Reflecting More Than Light
by ForgetMeNaught
Summary: Here, the dead do not devour what you love. What would you do to protect it? What would you do to own it? A mirror permits a twisted Finn to travel to the Ooo he loved so dearly, but misery loves company. From the moment the artifact is discovered, dark events cause a necrosis unlike Finn and Jake have ever seen.
1. Even Looking Once Changes It

**Reflecting More Than Light**

**Even Looking Once Changes It**

_Princess Bubblegum's Log, Entry #473, Day 19_

_We've been digging in the recently discovered ruins of the Desert of Doom region. A number of unique artifacts have been brought into circulation in the civilized lands from this area, some of them very dangerous. I've started an archaeological dig to find these artifacts, maybe secretly with the hopes of finding some hidden cache of ancient technology and keeping it out of the wrong hands. The ruins are of a variety I'm not entirely familiar with, but the architecture and materials predate the Mushroom War, thus making them at least a thousand years old._

_My dig team has thus far not unearthed anything of particular interest, though some of the items would make excellent additions to the Museum of Ancient Ooo. Among the items unearthed are our earliest known example of a fork, a petrified book, a sheet of metal with faint remnants of red paint and the word STOP silhouetted upon it, as well as what appears to be a piece of rusted steel headgear._

_I'm afraid that's as much as I have to update my log at this time._

And with a sigh, Princess Bubblegum closed her hologram logbook, happy and solemn at once. Happy that she was pursuing ancient, long-buried things, and solemn because maybe pride had convinced her they would find something more than the items she had before her in the glass case that dominated the center of the main tent in the dig camp. She was almost three weeks in and already she'd found many interesting things, uncovered a number of fascinating structures; but she'd had such energy when the endeavor began, and now she feared momentum was being lost. As Bubblegum moved to the tent's exit, she returned her visor to her head, honestly just in time to shield her eyes from the harsh sun. The Desert of Doom… nothing but sand and death for miles upon miles. She surveyed this patch of unlivable land with a quiet seriousness before Peppermint Butler intruded on her thoughts.

"Ma'am, a report from sector 4 is in."

"Yes?"

"Well," he began, "the building from that area has proven to be another dead end. More baby booties, all of them right feet."

"That's strange," she said quietly, almost so quiet that it seemed to be to herself. "But oh well. Please have them taken to containment. We'll send a shipment back to the Candy Kingdom once the lift is full."

"Yes ma'am."

And so he sauntered off, hard-hat clashing drastically against his servile garb. Bubblegum always found the juxtapositions to which Peppermint Butler put himself to be adorable. She sighed a little more happily now, and took to surveying the other sectors with her hands clasped gently behind her back. Her boots kicked up loose soil as she walked, and the dust clung eagerly to her pink shorts and work shirt, giving her just a touch of brown. The sun in turn baked her long, full pony tail, giving her whole body a sense of desert workmanship. She neither liked nor disliked it.

"Everything proceeding here?"

She called down to a candy corn wearing a work belt decorated with hammers, picks, and brushes, an uncanny and likely ineffective cone-shaped hard hat dotting his head. Peering up through the sun, he smiled and waved.

"Yes princess! The jawbreakers have been working that boulder over there," he said with a gesture, pointing toward a number of of the extremely hard candies as they smashed against a huge stone, "they say that there's a hollow space behind it."

"Really? Fantastic!"

Bubblegum slid down the dirt wall that separated her from the pit, excited that there was a find of any kind. She wasn't sure that the jawbreakers' resonance detection would work, but it seemed that finally they were playing their part. By picking up on the lack of reverberation on the other side of the boulder they bashed their ball-shaped bodies against, they'd inadvertently found a tunnel. In short, a planned accident. And as she approached the great stone that had gained so much attention, she saw that it was in fact becoming riddled with fissures. It wouldn't be long now.

"Peppermint Butler!"

She waited, and moments later he appeared, a look of 'yes ma'am?' on his face. Seeing her excitement and knowing what that could mean, he rushed back to another tent to get the necessary equipment. Minutes passed, punctuated by the solid thuds of jawbreaker cracking stone. The seams widened with each moment, the boulder inching ever towards coming undone. Peppermint Butler appeared at his lady's side with a hard hat adorned with a lamp, as well as a batch of torches. Bubblegum placed the hat gently on her head only moments before the air was filled with a great noise; the boulder shattered, and its many parts crashed to the ground.

"Alright everyone! Let's get a good look around!"

The space behind the boulder was a long tunnel of sorts, dark and dusty and far removed from the world. And as Princess Bubblegum stepped into this place, she planted a torch in the loose dirt and lit it up, letting the soft glow of fire fill the room. Looking deeper, she found to her excitement that this was not yet another dead end; the tunnel ran deep. She lit up the lamp on her hard hat and giggled delightedly, walking ahead with the torches in hand, planting one after another and lighting them for the workers who followed. This proceeded until she came upon a great, rusted out door. It was an intimidating spectacle, covered in interlocking parts and controlled by some sort of master wheel holding three metal rods set symmetrically in the wheel. What an exciting looking door!

"My goodness… this isn't anything like the other ruins. Peppermint Butler!"

"Yes ma'am!"

He and the work crew then began their work; approaching the door, they set about gripping the great metal rods that jutted from the master wheel.

"Remember everyone, ancient gears are all designed the same way. Lefty loosey righty tighty. And go!"

Peppermint Butler then took to making a circular motion with his arm, counterclockwise, and the candy workmen followed suit. Or rather, they tried. So rusted and worn was the door that the master wheel refused to turn, holding fast in its tomb of seized gears. The pressure the workmen put on the rods caused an audible strain, a groan which echoed into the ancient tunnel. This noise filled Bubblegum with dread, made her bite her lips and sweat drip down the side of her face. She feared the rods would give, that the vault might remain sealed forever, and knowledge be lost to the desert once and for all.

"Easy now. Easy."

And then it happened; the tunnel filled up with the terrible loudness of gears breaking out of rusty cocoons and metal grinding on metal. The wheel turned then with ease, and Bubblegum's knotted up anxiety was undone. She smiled when the master wheel ceased its movements, signaling the door was unlocked. Peppermint Butler too was happy at this turn of events, and he backed up slowly, gesturing toward himself to signal the crew to pull the door open. The tall candy workmen tugged eagerly in unison, and the rusted gate was itself slowly yanked loose from its frame. The smell of old air flooded the tunnel.

"It's open… Alright, let's see what's in there."

The princess moved to enter, only to be blocked by Peppermint Butler with outstretched arms.

"No my lady. If it's dangerous, you could get hurt. Let me go in."

"Peppermint Butler, I really think I-"

"No my lady."

And with a smile and a torch, Peppermint Butler entered the exposed chamber, the faint orange light of the torch giving him away on the other side. A moment passed before he returned with a strange look on his face.

"My lady, I think there's something you'd like to see."

He led her back through the chamber, a dark, stale space that seemed to be empty at first glance. But close to the end of the space, Bubblegum caught a glimpse of what her servant and confidant had found. A huge object lay here, a great, ornamented rectangle of gold. It looked like a great door frame, ten feet tall and perhaps six feet wide. The gold frame was decorated in a way she'd never seen before. Images of people and animals, and people mixed with animals, all drawn in exaggerated, angular style. Each glyph that depicted a creature was in profile, revealing only one side of the square face and body. Heads and hands were all strangely proportioned, larger than they should be. Princess Bubblegum then turned her attention to the space within the frame. It seemed infinitely dark inside; where the gold reflected the dancing flame's light, the space within looked to be smoky and shaded with ever complicated hues of grey and black.

"What is this? A door? What's on the other side?"

"Nothing, my lady," Peppermint Butler replied quietly, "It's not a door. It's a mirror."

"A mirror? But…"

_Same day, but at the Tree House_

"Happy Birthday Finn!"

The shouts of many happy voices and the shower of confetti all served the same purpose: celebration. Celebration of fifteen years of life. A happy life, no less. And Finn's mirth betrayed nothing less than that happiness.

"Thanks Jake. Thanks everybody."

Attendance was high, and included many of Finn's favorite people. Jake, Flame Princess, Lady Ranicorn, Lumpy Space Princess, an entourage of candy citizenry, half a dozen living balloons, and then some all came to wish Finn the best, and most of them to thank him for saving their lives at one point or another.

"It's cool to see y'all. Jake kept pretending that he forgot my birthday."

"Heh heh, yeah. You deserve it."

Mirth and laughter flowed through the evening, and indeed everyone at one point or another approached Finn to engage in conversation, some mundane yet charming, others riddled with strangeness. LSP, naturally, attempted more than once to take the lime light. What other way could it be? The hours passed, though, and one by one the guests bid their farewells until perhaps a third remained. At this stage, Finn felt a gentle touch on his hand, a touch like the heat of the sun wrapped in fireproof wool. A touch like.

"Flame Princess."

"Heh, yeah. Happy Birthday Finn," she whispered with a wide smile. She leaned in close and gave the shortest, sweetest, hottest kiss on his cheek. "When you have a moment, would you come outside and sit with me?"

"Uhm, uhh, yeah…"

Finn's smile and gentle laugh were all she needed to giggle and smile ever wider, and Flame Princess thereafter excused herself to the fields. Finn waited for a time, looking back at the party as it did slowly wind down. Slow dancing had become the preferred entertainment, at least for everyone except LSP. She moved and spun to a song only she could hear, and though this made Finn laugh heartily, he moved on.

"Jake. Hey Jake. I'm gonna go chill with Flame Princess for a while."

"Alright man. Stay outta' trouble, here me? No ti-"

"No tier 15, I got it."

And so he departed the tree house, greeting the warm summer night air as it met his skin. His shoes whispered softly with each step across the grass until he heard a crunch. Looking to the ground, he spied burnt grass shaped like tiny foot prints, and he followed those feet to the top of a hill lit by a great orange flame. Flame Princess sat there waiting, staring at the moon. He sat next to her and joined in the observation.

"Hey FP."

"Hi Finn. No tier 15?"

"Hah hah, no tier 15."

It was a sense of light comedy for them both that Jake would ever tell them 'no tier 15,' even though neither of them knew entirely what that entailed. Or rather, it seemed they didn't. Flame Princess took her eyes from the moon and stared at Finn instead. She reached up slowly and cautiously tugged at the ear of Finn's bear hat until it fell to the ground. Shoulder length blonde hair flowed forth. Finn turned his head to see her staring at him with a face touched with moonlight and bewitchment.

"Something on your mind, FP?"

"Finn… do you ever think about it?"

"Think about what?"

"Tier 15, Finn," she said excitedly, though she remained hushed. Her cheeks flared up with a blush, on top of that. "Do you ever think about what that means?"

"Uhhh," was all he could manage as his own cheeks filled with heat. "I know that we already did tiers one through seven…"

"Right. And what's tier 8 again?"

"I think that's the tier that…"

His chain of thought was broken when she parted her knee long skirt, made of fire as it was, exposing her glowing thighs all the way to her hips. She still hid certain regions from him, perhaps fearing his head might explode.

"Jake says tier 8 is where you 'touch her horn' for the first time, right Finn? Well, I don't have a horn, but you can touch me here if you want," she said as stroked her thigh. Her voice revealed her excited shaking, and she herself was burning hotter and hotter as she thought about it. Finn's whole face, at this point, burned red, and his hand extended slowly toward her leg. It felt somehow right to him to do this; he stopped just short of her skin and pulled away, and this displeased his lady.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You're, umm… you're too hot."

"… Oh. Oh! I see."

She smiled then and lifted a hand up to shoulder height. Swirling a finger gently in the air, a small flame issued forth, sending groups of embers from it. And in her native tongue, Flame Princess uttered a quiet little spell. Ignan runes floated peacefully in the air as the spell was formed, and the runes faded as Flame Princess leaned in and kissed Finn passionately on the lips. His red face was washed out by a spread of blue, and the heat faded from burning to tolerable. At least, her heat did. Finn's blood seemed itself to be made of lava. And when she leaned away, Flame Princess's breathing had picked up, and her fiery hair flickered violently in a breeze that didn't exist. She giggled and smiled.

"Hm hm, flame shield. Better?"

"Yeah… yeah."

Finn then reached gently toward his prize, the blazing hot thigh that physics had denied him just moments before. His touch caused Flame Princess, already breathing hard, to take in a sharp, excited breath, and the air around her shimmered with the heat of passion and elemental fire.

"Oh Glob Finn. You feel so cool to the touch..."

Awkwardness made him shudder. Through the flame shield he could feel the heat of her body, and through the throbbing in his head he could feel the conflict that raged in his mind. Was this against the rules? Was this wrong? It didn't feel wrong. He felt he was doing this right. And he felt that to move his hand up and down that stretch of leg was very right. Her breathing picked up, and it was clear to his biology that she was pleased. More than that, she was burning. He kept his hand relaxed as it slid up to the top of her leg, stopping a few inches short of her hip, but his thumb and fingers would squeeze gently as he pulled back.

"F-finn, that's…"

"Oh no, is that bad?"

"No. No, faster."

She gripped his hand and forced it to move as she requested, up and down her leg faster. She stared down so intently as he did so that it almost seemed an impossible level of focus. Flame Princess stopped breathing as it proceeded and instead began to pant. Why was she feeling this way? She didn't fully understand herself, actually; maybe some part of her nature was denied up to this point. This was clearly past tier 8, a stage involving only touching. And as she looked at last into FInn's eyes, seeing that same desire to see this innocent yet exploratory string of actions to its end that she felt in her. She knew that she was aroused. And she knew he was too. And as that thought flooded her mind, she took Finn's hand and pulled him into her embrace. Their lips met, then parted. Her tongue danced in his mouth, her sizzling muscle wrapping around his as a deep moan escaped her throat and echoed into his. Finn's eyes shot open in shock, partly from what she was doing, and partly because she burst into flames and scorched the earth and air around him. The explosive pleasure in her body caused a heat that strained even the flame shield, though it did not overcome it nor scorch his flesh. As the groan passed and the flames crackled into submission, Flame Princess pressed her forehead to Finn's and panted happily, eyes closed and open mouth pulled into a smile.

"Oh Grod, did I break the rule? Was that tier 15?"

"No Finn… but I think that might be what tier 15 feels like…"

"So," he said timidly, shaking from fear and his own deep arousal, "I did good."

Her response was not of words, but another deep open-mouth kiss. In this way did Finn open up a new door in Flame Princess's passionate heart, a pleasurable climax arrived at through curious physical contact.

Daylight crept into the treehouse windows, striking Finn's tired face and warming his strained muscles. He slept very little if at all last night; though Flame Princess bid him ado shortly after she had what seemed to be her first orgasm. He wasn't sure whether to let her go or beg her stay, so he decided to let the lady have her way. His body resented him for that. The arousal she made him feel was painful, but the passion soothed and warmed him. In truth, he smiled all night. The sun alerted him that the night was passed, and though he was tired, he felt within him a zeal that couldn't be quenched so easily. He pulled his hat back on and walked peacefully to the ladder that led to the kitchen. No one here now. He guessed that it made sense, except for the fact that breakfast was cooking, albeit left unattended. He heard Jake then.

"Aight sweetie. I'll catch up with you later."

The sound of a door closing signaled the end of exchanged words, and Finn walked to a window in time to see Lady Rainicorn weaving her way across the sunny morning sky. How did she put it? She danced upon on beams of light. Yeah, he loved how poetic that sounded. Attention was drawn then to Jake as he returned to the kitchen, one leg stretching up in advance of his puggish body.

"Mornin' Finn. … Whoa, did you sleep?"

"A little I think… what's for breakfast?"

"Hm? Nothin' special. Have a seat, s'almost ready."

"Cool man."

Finn sat somberly and heavily, causing the chair and floor boards to squeak in rebellion. But Finn had a rather interesting fondness for such sounds; he rocked back and forth in his chair, forcing the wood to issue tiny gasps and high-pitched squeals.

"Alright, that's enough of that!"

Jake's sensitive ears. Finn often forgot that detail. Every little squeak caused Jake's ears to perk, and this was frustrating for the dog, who knew full well that Finn was wanting nothing more than meager entertainment. He stood by with several pans and plates balanced in half a dozen hands, and as each dish was put to the table, a hand receded into Jake's body.

"Sorry man."

"It's cool. But seriously, did you sleep at all?"

"I said a little."

"Well, it looks like not at all. Like you were up all night thinking about something. Thinking about something that might have burned a crater into that hill over yonder. Know anything about that?"

And thus did Finn's face burst into red. He half turned from Jake and swallowed anxiety as heavy and hard as iron before bothering to think of a response. In the split second of panic that he felt, he recalled last night's little tryst. Flame Princess invited him out there innocently enough, he thought. She and he sat staring at the moon, and he remembered thinking how beautiful the night was when there was something to light it up. Flame Princess made the night especially beautiful. As beautiful as her face as he gazed at it, and knew that he loved her. As beautiful as her long legs, stretching from her toes all the way up to her hips. As beautiful as the strange feeling of her fiery skin under his magically protected finger tips. Oh Grod… the thought of that only made the pulse in his brain worse. Blood rushed to other reaches as well…

"Dude? You alive in there?"

Finn was brought back to Ooo in a moment's time, his breath slightly more labored than before.

"W-what? Yeah man. I don't know anything about no crater, okay?"

"… Oh man. You didn't do tier 15 did you?!"

"No man!"

Jake stretched aggressively forward, pushing the boy back against the chair in which he sat, a poking finger pushing into his ribs.

"Good, because you're too young for tier 15 man!"

"Yeah, about that," Finn retorted, blood burning in his cheeks, "when will I be old enough for that?"

"What? No, you can't ask me that," Jake retorted and recoiled at once. "You'll know when is when."

"Oh? You know that doesn't make sense, right?"

"Not if you're too young!"

Silence broke out. But it was short-lived, because natural laughter followed.

"I didn't do tier 15 man."

"Good boy."

"But I did tier 8, and probably tier 9."

Jake's eyes went wide and his mouth fluttered open to reveal his rounded teeth. But Finn simply ate his breakfast, a happy conglomerate of bacon, eggs, and browns. Jake took to pacing with his mouth agape, uttering silent words of displeasure as Finn carried on. After clearing his plate in short order, Finn wiped stray bits of food from his face and sighed.

"So, PB wasn't here last night. Guess that arky-whatsit thing is still going, huh?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Her archaeology team is coming home today. Lady said she called her last night on her prism and that they found something cool in the desert."

"Oh. Neat."

"Yeah. We're supposed to go there today to check it out after breakfast. You done?"

"Yeah man. Let's go."

Out into the sun went the brothers, walking calmly at first as they took in the summer day. Birds and bugs populated the air around the tree house, a pleasantry that Finn had taken to heart more and more over the past couple of years.

"Hey Finn. How's it feel to be fifteen?"

"Same but different."

"Heh, I hear that. Ready to go?"

"Yeah man."

_Candy Kingdom, castle foyer_

Finn loved his visits to the Candy Kingdom, and the Candy Kingdom loved his visits as well. Anyone would be hard pressed to find a place where people could be happier, live lives more satisfied and fulfilled than the candy people. It was that infectious joy that kept Finn and Jake coming back, that warmth and happiness that impressed the adventurous sons of Joshua to defend these people no matter what. The castle stood as it always did, parked perfectly at the center of the city, the boughs of the curious and massive tree towering above it all. And yet never casting even the slightest bit of shade. Weird. The boys were ushered into the foyer by Peppermint Butler, who'd been waiting silently at the front door for the esteemed heroes of Ooo. He wordlessly left them there, and though Finn and Jake wanted to follow, they somehow knew they should wait.

"Yo, Jake."

"Yeah?"

"… P. Butler acting funny?"

"He's always acting funny, man."

"I guess so," Finn answered as he peered about the foyer. Maybe it was his imagination, but the castle seemed off slightly. SIx inches to the left and not quite center. "Castle acting funny?"

"Huh… a little, I guess."

"Weird. What do you thi-?"

"Hey boys."

Attention was then paid to Bubblegum as she graced the room. She had redressed herself in her favorite dresses, visor replaced once more with her crown. She had a quality of tiredness about her as well as one of regency. The last few steps of the stairway she descended seemed particularly exhausting for her, and she stumbled a bit. Finn ran to her side to help if needed, but she happily waved him away.

"I'm fine Finn. I couldn't sleep at all on the trip back from the Desert of Doom. My mind is abuzz with the millions of possibilities of my discovery!"

"Wow, you're pretty psyched, PB."

"Yeah," Jake interjected as he approached, "What did you find? Rainicorn didn't tell me."

"I didn't tell her what I found, Jake. Because honestly, I don't know what it is yet. Come with me."

The three travelled through the castle then, up the stairs and through hall after hall, a seemingly relentless maze concealed by the gentleness and gentility of Candy Castle. Peebles herself seemed so lost in thought that Finn was unnerved by her; it reminded him of the Goliad incident. Glob, Goliad… he used to look up at her and Stormo every time they visited the castle, perhaps to make sure the pair remained locked in their psychic showdown. These days, they just seemed another piece of architecture. His mental wanderings were routed by the princess.

"There was a vault out in the desert. A tunnel ended with a dark chamber guarded by a huge, rusted out door. And on the other side of the door was a mysterious artifact left over from before the Mushroom War. Honestly, though, I've been thinking about all the carvings on it. They don't match anything I've ever seen yet. If I had to guess, I'd say that this artifact is much, much older than the ruins in the ocean, or the under city that your friend Susan lives in. I've only just had it moved to the room across from my observatory, so I haven't had much time to analyze it."

This gave Jake pause; despite his rambunctiousness he was always quite logical. Practical, even. He therefore had random, though insightful moments of wisdom.

"So, if you wanna analyze it, why not have it in your lab?"

"It was too big to put it anywhere but upstairs. The tunnels under the lab are too narrow to move the object around. I haven't used that room for anything but storage for a while now, which seemed like a waste of space."

"Hey PB," Finn broke in, "What is it?"

"Check this out."

Bubblegum pushed open a large door, behind which stood the great mirror she'd excavated in the Desert of Doom. Ten feet tall and six feet wide, the huge golden frame was indeed decorated in unfamiliar ways. Neither Finn nor Jake, in all their romps across the Land of Ooo, had seen glyphs like those upon the mirror. As they approached though, the three peered into its reflecting silver surface. There was only smoke and darkness there, a bleak, yet inviting infinity. And as they stood three feet from it, Finn stared at the black mass that seemed his reflection. It was indistinct, though he could somehow tell it was him. Finn crouched, and stood, and waved his hands about, and the dark mass in the mirror did the same in perfect time. It was impossible to see features or anything of the sort, but Finn knew it was his reflection.

"How come I can't see myself, princess? Does the mirror need to be cleaned?"

"No Finn, it's spotless. What you're seeing isn't dirt, but smoke. After doing a little research and talking to some spirits of the dead by way of seance last night, I found out this is an artifact called the Smoking Mirror. It's supposed to show the patterns of fate."

"That's weird," Finn whispered, looking at his black image. He leaned in closer as though trying to observe something, but it was Jake who gasped in discovery.

"Princess Bubblegum? Why is Finn the only one with a reflection right now?"

And that was the truth. Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum stood side by side in front of that mirror, but only Finn's image, however unidentifiable it was, was the only one looking back at them. And spooky as that was, Bubblegum only smiled.

"That's not entirely clear yet, Jake. But that's what was the case when Peppermint Butler and I found this thing in the vault. Neither of us cast a reflection in the Smoking Mirror, nor did any of the candy workmen who helped move it. So far, no one who's looked into it has seen their reflection. Well, no one except you Finn. I was hoping that would be the case."

She approached the mirror and touched it gently; it was cold to the touch, but it didn't unsettle her. When Finn's reflection looked like it shifted defensively, though, Bubblegum turned back to look at Finn, expecting him to be similarly on guard. He was not. That did unsettle her. Not enough to make her shy away from observation, of course. She was a scientist, and science couldn't be afraid of the dark, even when it looked like it was staring her down. She decided though that that was enough.

"So that's what we found in the vault. Shall I show you some of the other things we uncovered at the dig?"

"Yes please!"

They answered in unison, eager to depart this room and its bizarre inhabitant. The boys followed Bubblegum from the room and out the door. The reflection, however, did not depart. The black mass, rather than copy Finn's withdrawal, stepped toward the mirror, extending a hand to the very spot where Bubblegum had placed her warm hand. Digits stretched from what must have been a hand and delicately traced the warm spot. And from that strange reflection's place in the perpetual midnight of the mirror we shall now observe the last few moments:

The conversation was muffled, inaudible. But he knew that whoever was the man in the mirror, moving his hands about, was him. He knew it the second he noticed that there were three reflections, but he stood alone. That, and the middle man was matching this dark stranger's movements perfectly. He was afraid of what he was seeing, and of what they could be saying. The stranger learned to be afraid of everything in the last couple of years, after it all came undone. But seeing the shadowy silhouette of whoever that tallest person was somehow filled the stranger with comfort. Almost with hope. When it approached and touched the mirror, he shied away, reaching for the great sword strapped on his back. He feared that the shadow might emerge from this pane of smoke filled glass and attempt to kill him. Of what our stranger has seen of the dreadful undead, they might succeed. The shadow, though, touched the glass and stopped there, and the stranger somehow saw that whoever was touching the glass was filling it with warmth. Warmth… he missed that so much. So damn much… Glob in heaven, he wanted more than anything for gentle warmth to exist again. So as the three shades departed the Smoking Mirror, the stranger timidly approached the spot where the tallest of the three stood and touched the surface. A hand was raised and put to the glass, and the stranger smiled, and sighed in delight, and laughed so slightly it seemed like the squeak of a mouse. And when he brought his palm to his cheek to feel the warmth, the stranger's eyes shot open. He approached the glass again, pressing hand and forehead to its surface as if trying to force a clear view. In a cold, wispy, but young voice, he whispered.

"Princess… Bubblegum?"

_Close to midnight, two days later_

Princess Bubblegum had been studying the mirror for two and a half days now, but she'd taken time to get plenty of sleep, though her sleep schedule was staggered somewhat, leaving her to work through the wee hours of the morning. And truth be told, the study was going poorly; the ancient artifact confounded her to no end, as did the fact that since Finn left, there was never a sign of anything in the mirror's smoke. The glyphs defied analysis, being too old for any text to be of reference, and seances were a risky way to find answers to questions too old for mortal memory to answer. What if the beings answering her call wanted more than to talk? Too risky a business for science. In her frustration, Bubblegum decided to take the simple pleasure of time to herself in the observatory. She stared into the heavens and monitored the movements of the celestial bodies that dotted the sea of outer space. Mars always fascinated her, because through her telescope she could observe the advanced life forms that wandered its surface. And it was made all the more interesting that the Martians could see her too, under the right conditions; once, she happened to spy a Martian observing her through a telescope just as she observed him. She knew this because he waved at her, and she waved back. But in a mere minute's time, it seemed, the moment was gone, neither astronomer able to get the proper angle with their telescope to see the other. That, though, is what amazed Princess Bubblegum about Mars. Something as extraordinary as that could simply happen. She hoped it would happen again soon.

Across the hall, though, something strange was occurring; the black mass, the stranger within the mirror, had returned after two days of being elsewhere. From the perspective of an observer, one might think he was shaking his fists idly in the darkness. From the perspective of the stranger, though, he was crashing his fists against the glass again and again, seeking to break his way through this fickle magical window.

His fists only stopped for brief moments, and in their resting place against the plane his fingers twitched and a streak of breath would run over the shadowed face like a wicked slice. The stranger had a hope within his battered and worn out heart. The shoulders of this figure seemed to carry everything, sometimes shifting as he pounded, as if there was such an emptiness to him that the want was the only fuel to his fire. Perhaps, if he could be dissected, taken away, there would be nothing left but a swirl of energies that pushed past the lack of bone and skin and biology. Why would the other side of the mirror be a bleak eternity when warmth passed between the glass from another person? And he knew who it was out there. He knew it like he knew that he had to escape this hell in which he lived. And as he slammed his tired and aching hands in a mad drive forward, he believed he could finally get a sliver of personal truth. He hoped, with every pound of his fist, to find. With gritted teeth, each desperate plea made by his fists produced a new image of her. One, with her hair over her shoulder armed with an awed smile. Another, with her profile set against the pink of her castle, set apart from it all by a celestial light in his mind. He wanted, there was nothing else to it. He wanted. To finally hear and see her again. Finally touch her again… finally smell and maybe even _taste _her. The figure only paused for a moment, just to catch a breath. He knew that this mirror would break, he knew it just as he knew that he would find the never forgotten images of perfection that graced him at the darkest hours. He licked his lips, it could not be helped, the thoughts of _her_ drove him, inspired him, and empowered him.

He at last caused the glass to falter, sending cracks along its surface. The fissures magically faded when he paused to look at them, sealed up by the mirror's enchantment. This was frustrating; how long had he punched this damned thing, only to see his work disappear? He slammed his fists again, causing the veins of weakness to reappear, and he did this repeatedly until the cracks widened; from the cracks issued a yellow-green light. The faint light filled the stranger's space, a space filled with rubble and broken bones and bare skulls, a dead place. And moments later, on the other side, where Candy Castle held the mirror, the cracks widened and issued light once more, creaking across the surface of the mirror with each loud thud that issued from the dark side of the looking glass. There was the sound of shattering glass, the breaking of the Smoking Mirror, letting through the stranger into the Land of Ooo. He was slow to do so, afraid still of the other side. But the light of the holding chamber seemed too welcoming, and so the stranger pushed himself through. His footsteps filled the chamber, and the portal through which he stepped hissed shut behind him as the mirror reconstituted itself. Broken glass littered the floor for not even a moment before it melted into water and evaporated.

The stranger stood pensively in the holding chamber for a time; he was armed with a a great sword on his back, wrapped in dusty bandages and stained black with use, and tucked into his boot was the hilt of a brass dagger similarly blemished. The stranger wore a breast plate charred black and tarnished irreversibly, an item forged of steel once, but now far from recognizable as far as metal goes. He possessed matching gloves of black hide and boots, and his shins were guarded with greaves of the same ruined metal as the breast plate. A tattered gray cloak hung around his shoulders. But more startling than anything was the helmet he wore; gazing into it, one could tell after a moment's time that this helmet was made from a bear's bleached skull.

The blackguard, as he appeared to be, peered from one side of the room to the other through the holes in the helmet's face, and in seeing that the only things in here were himself and the mysterious mirror, concluded that through the door was the way the to go. He pressed his hands against it and forced its opening, and what was yielded was the vision of the hallway. He closed the door quietly, looking up and down the hall. His breathing, though silent, was labored and fast. He knew now where he was.

"Candy… Kingdom…?"

The stranger fell to his knees, staring at the floor of this place he never dreamt he'd see again. His gloved fist struck the floor, causing it to crack, and from this cracked floor tile he took a shard of hard candy. He lifted his helmet with one hand and popped the sweet treat into his mouth with the other. The sensation of that candy flooded the blackguard's senses, blinding him with white light and dazzling flavor. He smiled behind his bear skull helm, and laughed silently once more. He swallowed that shard of candy and ate a second one, reveling in the delight he'd been denied for years. He planned to have a third, perhaps to continue to eat until the broken tile was gone, but for the sound of footsteps down the hall. The stranger stood swiftly and glanced about. Two doors were present: the door through which he came, and another through which he could escape. He knew one thing: there was no way out through the mirror room. So instead he eased open the second door and slipped inside. Meanwhile, Peppermint Butler made his way up through the hall quietly, face mired in deep thought. He stopped just short of tripping on the broken tile, thinking it rather strange. He looked about, wondering what could have done this. The conclusion was that maybe this tile was broken when the heavy mirror was brought in; he made a note to have it fixed tomorrow.

The stranger paused and listened through the door, hearing the quiet footsteps of the Peppermint Butler as he left. Satisfied that he was safe, he turned around and looked at the room into which darted: a dark lit room known as the observatory. He pondered a moment and looked around, walking silently and scanning each and every bit of geography. Books and papers abound, and in the far end stood the lower portion of a great machine that he didn't recognize as a telescope. What caught his attention was the pink haired woman at its bottom. He knew her. He remembered her from before, the time before the dead world. He watched silently as she worked, her long hair jostling about as she tilted to and fro, leaning in close to the telescope and leaning back to write of her thoughts and make real her logic. Each minor movement, each intrinsic detail about her, he would commit to memory; he had to, in case this was just another dream. Another nightmare taunting him from the black void. His heart skipped a beat when she dropped her pencil, for in a second's time she leaned to her right to pick it up, brushing back her hair as it drifted in front of her face. Her face… it was the warmest thing he'd seen in his whole life. More beautiful than life, he thought. The sight of her stirred the most astounding cascade of emotion the man had ever felt. So strong, it made this silent, somber, frightening individual audibly gasp. The gasp caused Bubblegum to turn from her telescope and look back, expecting anyone other than who she saw. She froze a moment, not sure of what to do until she found her voice again.

"Who are you? Tell me before I have to call the Banana Guards!"

The stranger stood silent, unafraid, or perhaps frozen head to toe from shock. After a few seconds passed, and it seemed Princess Bubblegum wouldn't answer, the blackguard took it upon himself to answer, albeit in his own way. He drew from his back the great sword that he carried, which frightened the princess quite visibly. She feared he was sent for some dark purpose, such as assassination. When he set the sword against the wall, just below a softly glowing candle, she breathed a short sigh of relief. She looked at him still, fixated on that bleached skull atop the black form. And when he reached up and pulled the helmet from his head, dropping it to the floor with a quiet thud, Bubblegum halted a scream in her throat.

"What in…? Finn?!"

Yes. Yes it was. Finn the Human stood before her now, but at the same time it was so obviously not Finn the Human that it might make a lesser man insane. She crossed the distance to him in seconds, a cry still caught in her lungs. He didn't move an inch, fixated on her image as she approached. Such images flashed through his mind as Finn recalled the very last day he saw her. The day it all came undone, the world he loved and lived in died. She was so alive now. He wanted more than anything to have her…

"Finn! Finn, what happened to you?!" She touched his face gently, feeling the scars that existed there now that had not been two days ago. In her mind, she was trying to make sense of that. She ran fingers over cuts long healed and burns that turned his skin a shade whiter than the rest of his face. She cried quietly, no logic heeding her call. "Finn… what's wrong?"

He stood so quiet, so swallowed up in his feelings and thoughts that Bubblegum thought he must be injured. But he wasn't injured, and was in fact feeling better than he had in two long years. Feeling better not only because she was here, but because she was crying for him, and touching him so gently. Finn's skin eagerly drank up the warmth of Bubblegum's fingers; it made him shed a pair of tears.

"Princess Bubblegum…"

"Finn… are you alright?"

"This is… this isn't real, is it? This just another nightmare. I've had so many before, why should this be anything else? Why shouldn't this be a bad dream?"

"What? Finn, this isn't a bad dream," she said with the greatest of empathy, "I don't know what's going on, but I know this isn't a nightmare."

"Are you sure?" he asked as he glanced to floor, "Are you sure I'm not dreaming? Or insane?"

Bubblegum tried to take her hand from his face, but his own gloved hand held it in place, continuing the warm embrace he craved so dearly. His breathing was quiet, but quick, and it almost frightened her. He continued to shed tears, and the cold beads of water touched her skin. He pulled one glove off, and put his now naked hand over her own. It was rough to the touch, the hand of a warrior. But her skin… it was warm, and soft. It was alive. Compared to her he felt dead to the touch, a chilled corpse of a young man. She felt this chill, and it stirred her to compassion.

"Finn… it's okay," she said, pulling him into her arms. "It's okay. Whatever happened, you're safe now."

She held him close, and the gentle heat of her whole body covered his, feeding through the blackened breastplate into his torso. So warm… he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. This made him feel more than alive, and he spared a few extra tears as life filled his heart again.

"Princess Bubblegum… did I actually find you? I never thought I'd see you again. But I never forgot you," he whispered as he looked up at her. He saw her eyes, swollen with tears and open with surprise, since he had moved his bare hand from her fingers to her cheek. Her face was even warmer than her hand, and he craved it now. "I never stopped loving you."

"Wha-?"

Her shock escalated exponentially when his gloved hand left her back and reached up to the back of her head, pulling her down the six inches of height that separated Finn and Princess Bubblegum's lips. She cried short gasps against his mouth, muffled as he held her in place against his face and tried to force his body away from her, but Finn seemed so strong. Never had he been like this… if the darkness of the mirror unsettled her, then this outright scared her. Finally she broke free enough to step back five feet.

"What is this?! Finn!"

His face was strange, so very strange. It was cold, contorted by sufferings too numerous to count, and twisted into mad hope now that he was here with his princess. He stepped forward, she stepped back, and they repeated this a few times before Finn grew frustrated.

"I… I just wanted to feel it. You're so warm, PB… and… I love you."

Images danced in his head, visions of idealization and passion that were never allowed to flourish or die, desires long since warped into obsessions and impossibilities. He harbored such things for Bubblegum, never imagining he'd ever see her again. And never imagining that she wouldn't love him back. To him, that seemed the impossibility.

"I…"

"Finn, we talked about this. I just don't-."

"Don't what…?"

"Don't…" she stopped herself; wrongness was all about him. "Finn, you need to go home. We'll forget all about this…"

She moved slowly towards the balcony door, which adjoined with another room outside. If she could keep him calm, there might be no incident. She could lock herself in and summon the Banana Guards if she had to. At first, he let her gain distance, let the gap widen. But this wasn't because of anything other than quiet shock, a deep, processing dread in him. Images flowed through again, violent memories wherein he lost her again and again, visions of the nightmares that cracked his mind every night. The sight of her falling into shadow, disappearing into the void of night. Seeing her move slowly towards the balcony door, which led out into the dark night sky, triggered the response he wish he'd made when she fell into the pit.

"No!"

He charged. She hadn't time to react, his speed and physical strength great enough to stun her mind and knock her to the floor. She landed flat on her back, a faint scream escaping her as the wind was forced out. As Bubblegum's senses returned, she found herself in his arms, held above the floor like a damsel in distress. He looked as though he'd just seen a ghost, save for the smile on his face. That smile communicated triumph, the snagging of a narrow victory from the edge of total defeat.

"I won't let it happen again. I love you. I love you."

He leaned in close and kissed her again, and her eyes fluttered open as his lips met hers again. This was insane. This whole thing was insane! Finn lifted away from her and rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed and mouth curled into a smile. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"I've missed you, PB. Everyday I wished things could've been different. That I could see you again, and tell you how much I loved you. Everyday…"

"Finn. You need to leave," she gasped out through the noise of her mind, "I'll call the guards. You'll be thrown in prison."

He didn't seem to listen. His thoughts were elsewhere, in a place that Bubblegum dreaded she would see. Finn kissed her again, and she gasped loudly this time when she felt his tongue infiltrate her mouth. It was a rough, aggressive kiss, and she writhed under Finn's body as he worked his tongue about. It was too strong, too intrusive, and its movements made her start and twist about and shed tears. When he lifted his face from hers at last he looked at her eyes and seemed to become sad. She stopped her quiet crying when she felt his hands loosen. Was this right? She looked so scared, and maybe a little sick. He wondered if he did something wrong, remembering what it felt like when the same was done to him. This was the moment she was hoping for; pulling one hand free, she struck Finn across the cheek, stunning him. While he was dazed, she pulled her leg up and strained to kick her attacker off of her. He staggered back as she rose to her feet, heart hurt far more than anything else. She feared his wrath, but looking into his eyes all she saw was sorrow. But his face seemed to regain that freezing cold that scared her, and in a moment's time he was upon her again. It was a fast, blinding moment, and now she felt she was pinned against a wall. Finn this time had his knees on either side of her legs, pinning her thighs. One hand held her arms fast by her delicate wrists while the other seemed to be plucking her hair. It was so strange, what was happening… what was he doing pulling her hair away? She saw he'd gathered a glob of gum from her maybe 8 inches long, and felt him pull her wrists towards this mass. He wrapped the gum around her wrists and stuck them fast to the wall. But…

"Finn, stop this now! That's just bubblegum, it won't hold me! Now you need to sto-."

He was whispering something dark and arcane, and she knew it was magic. She tilted her back to see him pressing a thumb against the blob of gum, and before her very eyes the gum was turned to stone, still held fast to the wall. He gently released her arms smirking when he saw she would no longer strike him with her hands. What made Finn feel comforted made Bubblegum feel afraid. He sighed and chuckled, looking down at his captive princess. She breathed in a panic, her chest rising and falling dramatically. Finn observed the stretch of skin that went from her neck to her dress collar, desiring to feel it with his fingertips. He pulled the glove from his other hand and gently pressed it to her collarbone. So warm… so soft… he closed his eyes to the feeling of it, biting his lip with each breath she took. He then glanced at her breasts, noting how strained the fabric looked over them. What did… what did those feel like? The thought filled his mind, burning through it like a fever dream. The digits of both hands traced their way down Bubblegum's neck and paused at the collar, pulling gently at the dress but finding it won't yield.

"Oh Grod, please… Finn, please stop. Please don't do this."

"Don't do…? But I love you. Don't you… you don't love me…"

"Finn, I don't…"

He pulled the knife from his boot, placing it gently at the collar of her dress. Bubblegum screamed for but a second before his hand covered her mouth. His face communicated a look of icy aggression and caution, saying that she wouldn't be hurt, but she had better not scream. So strong was the frightful stare that Bubblegum didn't dare make a sound when he removed his hand. Nor when he pulled knife against the fabric of her dress, splitting it down the middle from collar to mid drift. This exposed what he sought. They looked so… strange, just laying bare before him. And they weren't moving like they were before, Bubblegum's breathing having frozen in fear. Slowly, timidly, he put a finger to the globe of candy flesh, running it from top to bottom with a patient gentleness. She gasped when he struck her nipple, that most sensitive spot, but he did not abandon his stroke. Her teeth chattered when she looked into his eyes, seeing the low light of lustful thought in those bleak pupils. A moment later, he put two fingers to the top of the other breast, and repeated his motion, spending a little more time at her more tender flesh than before. She muffled her voice this time, refusing to let her biology rule her. This was no time for the confusion of the body against the mind.

"Finn…"

"I think you'll love me…"

"No, I don't think I will. You can't do this."

Finn took the knife back to her dress, tearing it slowly with the blade from her mid drift to her waist, exposing her stomach and the very edge of her panties. His breathing increased at this sight, seeing her stomach; the knife was dropped to the ground, and he huddled in close to her, so close she could feel his breath. But this was far from satisfying for him, and he pressed his cheek against her tender skin, delighting in it. She uttered a near scream when the icy cold armor touched her, jabbing her meanly but not injuring her. The sound shocked Finn, making him back off her. It occurred he might be over dressed now. So he stood back from her and reached around his sides to tug loose the bands holding his breastplate in place, pulling it from his torso and lowering it to the floor with a cool, metallic tap. His boots followed suit, as did his undershirt. She struggled to escape, pushing her feet about her and pulling at the restraint, but her feet gathered no traction and arms no freedom as Finn stood shirtless. She paused then, eyes agape, seeing the assortment of scars he hid beneath the armor: slashes from claws and blades, one or two painful looking bite marks, and multiple hand prints burned into place forever. This Finn… this one suffered horribly. And then it occurred to her. This was Finn, yes, but this was a Finn that had not seen good days. And Princess Bubblegum knew for a fact that the Finn she knew hadn't suffered these injuries.

"… Finn… you were the shadow. The man in the mirror!"

He leaned in over her once more, rubbing his face against her stomach, the scars making it only slightly more uncomfortable than the bondage or the dire straits in which she found herself. But Finn was uncomfortable too, and the remedy seemed simple enough. He crawled up over her body, pressing his chest to her stomach, and his face to her breasts. He knew they were soft to the touch, but they felt much more delightful to the skin between his scars. He rubbed against her, and took in deep breaths full of the scent of her. The scent of bubblegum… so sweet and innocent. So infinitely removed from the stink of ghouls and fiery ruin, so much greater than the stagnant air of tombs and caverns. Bubblegum shuddered under the weight of his movements, quieting her whimpers when he took to rest. With an ear pressed to her chest, he could hear her frightened heart, madly beating in her rib cage. She had her eyes screwed shut, and she attempted to put herself somewhere else, at least in her mind. She thought back to some of her favorite mathematical formulas, how they interacted with each variable, how perfect yet imperfect they always appeared. Her chain of thought would break with an internal shriek each time he moved. Each mental scream of fear in turn caused her chest to quake and her heart to skip a beat. These stumbles in rhythm made Finn curious, and he opened his eyes and stared. What he saw was her right breast, and be became utterly enamored with it. The way it shifted with her breathing, the subtle movements in time with her heart beat. And the sweet smell of it all… it was soft, and warm, and it smelt the way he always hoped it would. Wonder took root in that fractured mind… his mouth opened, and he leaned in closer to that globe of pink flesh. She jumped with a start that one might think was brought on by a terrible nightmare abruptly ended. Perhaps that feeling isn't so far removed.

"Ahhh! No no, no… no. Oh no. Oh. Okay. It's okay, it's okay…"

He kissed and licked at first, tasting the side of her breast with a tentative sense of exploration. The flavor… she tasted just like she smelled. Delicious. Greed drove him to start suckling, and that unwelcome feeling plunged Bubblegum into renewed panic. Her heart ran amok, and she pitched her hips from side to side in a bid to shake him loose. But, as he wouldn't give way, she worked again to separate her mind from her body. Simple thought alone wouldn't aid her, though, his mouth breaking right through that immaterial barrier.

"Ah! Mmm… uhm… H-hydrogen… Helium. Lithium, B-beryl-," she shuddered and clenched her teeth and eyes as Finn's mouth took to enjoying her nipple. A growl escaped her lips as she willed her body not to react. Resist, she demanded of herself. He stopped sucking for a moment to resume rubbing his face in her chest, taking in the scent again. Bubblegum resumed her listing. "Ahh… Beryllium. Boron, Carbon, Nitrog-gyaah!"

This listing of the elements, a mundane mental stretching for Bubblegum's mind, broke apart when Finn's mouth found her breast again, but this time a dreadful surprise followed. Nothing he did was particularly different, the lip and tongue play nearly identical to previous treatments. What was different lay within Bubblegum, the shocking pleasure of her body being stimulated against her will by a curious little madman. She felt a flare through her torso, and it subsided in her gut with a gentle burn, a tingling that sank into unease and malaise.

"N… N… Nitrogen…"

Finn was intrigued now. He stared at Bubblegum's face wide-eyed, not taking a single breath until he climbed up to meet her eyes. He kissed her again, tongue and all, pressing her lips firmly as a gasp eased its way out. This time, though, his hands roamed her body, running up the length of her stomach until his rough, calloused fingers gripped her breasts. This made her squeal into his mouth. His hands were so rough, worn and scarred from wielding that great sword, his grip strong and sure from countless battles. And worse than those things, it was not pain nor shock that caused that squeal. To her chagrin, Bubblegum found the attention pleasurable. His tongue left her mouth, tracing its way over her lips and down to her jaw, leaving behind a faint trail of saliva behind. And as his tongue ran down her neck to her collarbone, Bubblegum opened her mouth and moaned gently, face bursting with blush as he suckled on her sweet skin. She was losing her mind now, that's all it could be. There's no other reason why she should be okay with this stone cold doppelgänger's abuse. No reason why she should be moaning louder as he licked and groaned quietly. Her cries faded slightly as Finn kissed lower and lower, until his mouth was at the hem of her boy cuts, hidden by the remainder of her skirt. He smelled something else now… it was sweet, but sour too. Taking in deep breaths through his nose didn't soothe him, but in fact flared his body, bringing blood into regions high and low. His knife was back at her dress, tearing down again until the the blade was freed into empty air. He cast aside the parted cloth and stared down at Bubblegum's underwear. She recoiled in shame, pulling her knees to her stomach to hide herself, but he could clearly see the pattern that adorned the adorable boy cuts.

He chuckled quietly as he looked at these unders, cut from black silk and decorated with tiny beakers and test tubes; her science panties, lucky in her mind. Science… he remembered how much she loved science. How little it meant to him until she was gone. He was known to occasionally collect instruments of chemistry that were left in abandoned laboratories, keeping them as memoirs, keeping them to keep her. She looked down at Finn as he smiled. She shuddered as he tugged at the material, and breathed loudly, tears in her eyes when cold air struck her exposed areas. Escape again, she thought to herself. Find another escape. Block it out!

"Ah! M-math… math! Do math! Uhh… Mars. A-about fifteen minutes difference by light… light moving at 186k miles per second… Mars is thus about one hundred six- gahh!"

His finger stroked at her, pulled across the source of the alluring aroma. If Finn thought Bubblegum's skin was warm, this was irresistibly hot. Hotter than the blood boiling in his ears. The probing digit was causing such a reaction in her, such sounds and movements. Her mind convulsed, a maddening situation for her. She tried desperately to push it all away, tear down the world around her, and if nothing else just picture the glittering stars in her mind. When he stopped, Bubblegum tilted her head back and sobbed tiredly. Her eyes opened to the sight of the sky through the gap in the ceiling where the telescope was free to move. The glittering stars… her chest jumped with her sobs, but the stars above calmed her down. Finn, though, was far from calm. He pulled her legs apart, eager to further explore. He leaned in close and breathed deep. He loved the smell. And like before, he wondered over flavor. Bubblegum saw what was happening, felt his hands tense on her thighs, felt him tug himself forward.

"F-f-f-finn! Stop this!"

She pushed her head and shoulders forward as far as she could with her eyes and mouth open in a silent scream. It was all that would happen as his tongue hit its mark, and when his explorations moved up and down, she bucked about to get Finn's face away from her. Or maybe it was something else that motivated her hips. When his tongue moved up, she clenched every muscle in her body. When his tongue moved down again, she released her tension and let out sobs doused in deep-rooted moans.

"Stop! Stop stop stop stop sto-hop, Finn!"

Minutes passed in this way, and those were the only words she uttered in that time; all the rest of her sounds were a little more animalistic. Time and again her body spilled over with heat as Finn hungrily devoured her, and her eyes rolled back into her head whenever this happened. When it stopped, Bubblegum's breasts heaved with heavy breathing. The blinding light faded as she saw Finn standing over her again, thumbs pulling at the edges of his pants. His face was some dire mix of passion and doubt, curiosity and need. The strain of his pants was impossible to ignore, and it seemed now an inevitability what would happen next. His pants fell to floor around his ankles, and he kicked them away. The sight of him there, nude, fully aroused… it made her quite mad with anguish. She writhed about again, feet dragging at the stone. She tried to beg him, tried to reason, tried to stop him. But all that issued from her tired and strained voice box was a wispy whimper. His eyes were lost in that twisted love he felt for her. And when he knelt in close, hot breath on her skin, Bubblegum could do nothing but moan when their sexes met. There was only blinding ecstasy after that, and the sickening feelings of wrongness associated with rape. He ground into her again and again, and too many times the princess could do nothing but let her body react to the pleasurable mechanics. It seemed hours slipped by in this way, time having been twisted to fit the madness of the world now. She felt him change inside her, a menacing heat and sudden pressure within. And he growled as this pressure turned into liquid fire in her womanhood, a fire that made Bubblegum cry out in pleasure, and heartbreak, and dismay. He leaned in against her and kissed her neck, and the throbbing of his manhood matched the beating of his heart. She shook in his naked embrace, eyes streaming tears across her face, heart quaking in her chest. When he pulled free of her and stood neck crooked, face pointed to the floor, Princess Bubblegum let her head fall against her arm.

She felt so nauseous… even as Finn walked away, silent as a shadow, she felt sick. Sick that this happened. Sick that she couldn't stop it. Sick that she physically enjoyed his hands and tongue and the feeling of him inside. Very, very sick that she felt his seed inside her womb.

Finn, meanwhile, contemplated this world he now found himself in. He walked nude out onto the balcony, leaning against the candy stone that separated him from a steep fall. The Land of Ooo lay out before him. The sight of it… green, verdant, alive, full, beautiful! Finn of the mirror… he hadn't seen Ooo like this in two years. It made him angry. Very angry. What happened differently here? Why did this world deserve to have Princess Bubblegum, and a living land? What did he do wrong to deserve otherwise? He decided then, staring out at this world, this land that had otherwise forsaken him, that drastic measures were in order.

"I'm going to have her. And I'm going to have this. I've worked so hard… I won't give it back!"

He crushed his fist against a stone in the railing, breaking it to pieces with the blow. He thought nothing of it as he turned and went back inside. He found Bubblegum with her eyes closed, still crying but slower and with more sob-like hiccups. Finn crawled in next to her, which stirred her from her sorrow. But when all he did was cuddle in close with her, Bubblegum stifled her cries. But why? Why would she be quiet? Surely she had to escape this… but she committed no effort to the matter. He whispered to her.

"Bubblegum… I love you. Never leave me again. I love you."

She sobbed quietly and shifted slightly. She was afraid to say anything else…

The world seemed to hold its breath. There is something to be said, when time is disrupted, when two beings who should exist universes apart from each other meet. There were flowers that stopped swaying in the midnight breeze, a fox in the forest perked its ears to a cry that was only in its mind. Some of the candy people awoke from their peaceful slumbers with eyes open and hearts pounding. The stars dimmed, in a line, one by one, caught in a moment of universal grief for the massacre of its natural laws.

Finn, or rather, this Finn that was not quite Finn, shifted. His arms widened, as if the feelings that were in between the fractured pieces of his mind could not be contained, not even by her. Though the words had faded into the quiet, she knew he was not asleep. He seemed to be waiting, and in a show of what she could only call possessiveness his fingers rested on the landscape of her shoulder, and without any words his fingertips tightened on her skin. It hurt, but not in the way that she knew was physical. She also knew, at least, that whatever had happened would never be forgotten. Memories had that kind of power, to scar a soul, to steal something forever and hide it away. No matter, she thought, what the intention.

Still, she did not scream. She did not plan, or attempt, any sort of violent revenge. The stone that held her hands dissolved, until the only thing holding her to the ground was the paralyzing fear and the need to analyze until she could not ever miss a prediction or outcome. The tears fell, and more than once she thought of what she would do next. Still, through the night, she stayed still, not willing to fight.

And when the wee hours came she knew why. When she had seen his eyes, the twisted crinkle of his smile, the jagged corrupted illusions of his words, she knew that what kept her here was not just fear. Princess Bubblegum cried, never looking at this Finn who was not quite Finn.

Of course, she knew what it was like to live artificially. To know that skin can be manufactured, that bone can be built. She knew, perhaps more than the monster ever could, what it was like to walk around, having to feel when the whole world around you meant that you were only a great tragedy. They were not quite so different, really. What had made this Finn was nothing short of horrific. The person she knew was altered into insanity. Bubblegum understood, that artificial people often tragically never know what they do, they never know that they are deformed forever. They only wish for something they aren't capable of having or doing.

However, Princess Bubblegum was also a scientist. She spent her time calculating.

She also surmised that running and fighting would be pointless. After all, where do you run when the whole world has changed?


	2. Bad Dreams and Sunrises

Note from the author: There were some formatting errors in the first chapter. I hope they didn't affect your reading too greatly. In the mean time, welcome to chapter 2 of Reflecting More Than Light.

**Bad Dreams and Sunrises**

* * *

Morning light filtered into the observatory through the long viewing window overhead and the balcony door at the far side of the room. As such, the vast room was still heavily cloaked in shadow. It smothered everything that wasn't touched by the faint magic glow of the everlasting candles, casting out spheres of light that, without the golden glow of the sun, were the only defense against the lingering night bottled in this room. Each little candle was a world lost in the void, and it was in one of these tiny worlds of twilight that the princess finally fell asleep. It had only been a few hours ago now when fatigue collapsed into exhaustion, and exhaustion into blacking out, dropping that fickle notion we call consciousness into the pool of thoughtlessness we each and every day expect to rise from again. Because her mind was stressed to its limits, Bubblegum slept poorly, a state that would be made all the worse by the comfortless observatory floor and the brief time wherein sleep was even a possibility. If she dreamt, it was of things far removed from the twisted fate she was thrust into the night before, for though lines of agony still marked her features, she seemed entirely wistful and at peace. In a way, it seemed the quiet bliss of the flameless candle burning above her was communicated at last, letting Bubblegum have well deserved rest in the peripheral of its glow.

Finn lay in darkness, just past the edge of the light, and for him, sleep came easy. As easy as it could, rather, for a mind as burdened and splintered as his. He too slept poorly, but not because of the pain of heartbreak, the strain of violation, or even the physical hardships a stone floor has on a skeleton. He had spent too many nights on stone to care, too many sunless daybreaks in the bitter cold to notice he was still naked. He slept poorly because that was all he could do. His hands would tremble often as his subconscious paraded foul dreams one by one through his mind's eye, his breath hitching and his skin going cold with sweat. Bubblegum had noticed this in the dark hours once he had finally passed into sleep, before that same grace came to her. Some times he would whimper pathetically, other times whispers of nameless tragedies would bubble to the surface, their painful recollections cutting his soul like jagged bits of glass. She pitied him as he slept. He pitied himself as he dreamt. His mind was alive this very moment, possessed by a sequence of images he'd both loved and hated, and he tensed all over, his fingernails digging into Bubblegum where they found her shoulder and side. She woke casually despite her condition, perhaps expecting to stir from slumber elsewhere. When she found herself still naked but for shreds of clothing, still anchored to the observatory floor by her deranged rapist, she sighed in despair. His whimpering got her attention again, because it seemed he was dreaming about her.

"Bubblegum…"

He dreamed of her from before, piecing together fragments of memory into a patchwork that any madman might believe was art. He dreamed of days when he was her knight…

_"What a patoot… thanks for saving the day again, boys."_

He dreamed of days of innocent infatuation…

_"Oh, I know! You wanna kiss Princess Bubblegum! Just like the Ice King!"_

_"I do not!"_

He dreamed of days she looked on him with favor…

_"You'll do that for me, won't you?"_

_"Because I care about you..."_

Finn's heartbeat grew turbulent, his skin growing clammy and his face contorted by pain. He remembered these things, and then remembered some of the worst things he had ever had to endure. He saw her even now, that look of surprise when gravity slipped its noose around her, the grasp of the Ice King failing not because of any force but that of a fool's mind. Shock was there in her eyes, disbelief stunning her. But that was only the beginning; he could envision every detail of her fall, the last time he had truly seen Princess Bubblegum, because it was the very last time. He remembered the split second surprise vanished, and panic seized its place. The look of horrific realization plagued him everyday, chilling his soul with ice and angst. The realization that she was let go, dropped to her doom. Finn swore each time he remembered that he could still see the look on her face when Bubblegum was finally touched by the pure taint of the Lich's cauldron, a face exploding with the shock of blistering, all-consuming pain. The energy that roiled in that foulest lair of undead bled nearly every ounce of life from her, down to the last weightless morsel of energy that constitutes the spark of the living. And each time Finn dreamed this dark scene, he would suffer the sound he imagined she would make: a deafening, blood-curdling scream. Had she the time to hold her head above the swirling necromancy, he believed she would pour out her soul in pain. And this belief was enough to drive him insane.

In her waking moments, she whispered to him, "Finn… what are you dreaming?"

He didn't respond when Bubblegum spoke to him, panting instead, tightening his fingers into her until it pained her. It made her eyes shudder, that slight stabbing sensation. And it was frustrating for her, causing her anger to spike; her usual virtue of patience had long since run out, having been thoughtlessly wasted by her attacker. So when he clawed her in his pained sleep, she very nearly gave into the urge to strike him, injure him into waking. She lacked empathy at this particular moment, a point when he was likely at his most vulnerable. And in fact, Bubblegum briefly thought that she could save herself by means of murder. Her fingers moved of their own accord in this way, twitching as they drifted slowly toward his throat. She could incapacitate him by choking off his blood vessels… she could kill him in the same way with only so much effort, if she could move just fast enough to pin him. It might be even easier since he did her the favor of destroying her dress in addition to her virtue, its bifurcation making motion all the easier. These dark thoughts passed though, because… she didn't really know why. Maybe it was because despite not being Finn, this was still Finn. Or maybe it was because he silently cried a river of tears into her bosom.

"… I'm sorry…"

He dreamed of staying at her bedside, tending to her after rescuing her from the Lich's place of power. He was defeated, crumbled into dust; she was alive, talking even. She did seem off kilter, and off color… but having almost died once or twice himself, why should Finn think anything of it? In fact, he didn't really know Bubblegum as well as he should like. Maybe this is just how she deals with trauma, he thought. His mind was riddled with unpleasant images, gritty monochromatic recreations of the last days of the living Ooo, violent, rage-filled moments wherein Finn wanted desperately to put Ice King out to pasture for his role in Bubblegum's suffering, and flashes of the worst, most fearful day of his life. Flashes of a dire titan of blackened flesh and pink hair. He saw it now… it haunted him to this day. Haunted by the vision of his beloved princess razing the Candy Kingdom, seeing her grand, ghoulish form kill and give unlife to her former subjects. And he remembered her turning her soulless, blood-shot eyes at him as he tried and failed time after time to stop her. He sees still what he saw in her then, the visage of the Lich behind her pupils, laughing at him, laughing at the foolish mortal world that thought he could be stopped at all, much less forever. She screamed in wrath and pain, perhaps even self-loathing, as she breathed toward the impossibly outmatched hero a vile line of death. He closed his eyes, but his ears betrayed his desire not to know what was to happen next.

_"Finn! Look out!"_

_"Jake?!"_

There was a hiss and a yelp above him. Finn opened his eyes in time to see Jake above him and blocking the line of sight between the Lich and himself. He opened his eyes in time to see life immediately fade away, in time to see Jake's body explode into ash. He had been spared a most gruesome fate. But he fell to his knees because he wished he hadn't.

"… Jake… Bubblegum… I'm sorry…"

The great ghastly thing looked at him. Finn, the pathetic human boy, crumpled up in despair. He in turn looked back, seeing that huge grotesque thing that was Bubblegum. She opened her mouth, hideous teeth dripping with foul ichor and let loose a guttural scream. It was not the scream of a monster, but that of a young woman, a maiden dying a second time as pure evil corrupted what remained of her mortal coil. The visages of a thousand ghouls and hateful beings flashed through his mind in unison. Finally, without a sound, Finn shot up into waking, staring into the room before him. For a moment he didn't seem to know where he was. Pulling his hands away from Bubblegum, he reached into the shadows around him, feeling for the knife he set aside the night before. His groping fingers fiddled for a bit as he looked from one side of the room to the other; finally he found the knife, and gripping it tight he leaped to his feet and silently stalked the room. He checked under every bench and behind every thinkable hiding place. Bubblegum watched impatiently; it was clear he didn't feel safe, but she knew it was. The exercise was so wasteful.

"Are you done? Did you find anything?"

Her voice came out as a chill flow of sarcasm, just before a yawn and its tiresome moan occupied her face for a brief moment. Leaning forward, she found her back to be knotted and achey, yet another testament to her awful night. She leaned forward enough to find the floor with her hands, and crawling was the inevitable next step. With each slow motion, pains erupted all over, muscles locking and joints coming loose from a rough night. A nearby table served as the step ladder to standing, a painstaking process in and of itself made worse by a sudden flare through her loins. With a grimace, Bubblegum pushed up from the floor, only to have to suffer her knees buckling and her body surge with adrenaline as a fall began. She didn't hit the floor though, not even close. Instead of cold candy stone there was a pair of arms holding her, instead of her eyes seeing darkness she was witness to a worried face. Slowly, Finn lifted Bubblegum up until she was even with the table, but his touch was easily the least comfortable thing she'd ever felt. With an acidic glare and a curt whip she pulled away.

"Don't touch me! Don't! Don't touch me…"

Her hands rested against the cool tabletop, an unwitting but crucial piece to her stability at this moment. She was sick to her stomach with disgust, anger and self-pity, and the table served as a focus against that tide of unpleasantness. It only worked so well though, and in fact the nausea managed to force a wretch from her. That feeling in turn made her head spin wildly, and she wilted again as her vision blurred momentarily, just enough to undo her balance. When Bubblegum fell to her knees with her hands holding firmly to the table, she grew a little afraid again, feeling Finn's body looming over her still.

"Just don't touch me… Don't think about it… Don't do it."

* * *

As befitting nature, the sunlight effortlessly filled rooms elsewhere, warming everything in its path, stirring it to life again after the blanket of night. In one of these elsewhere rooms stirred the Finn that was Finn, and though he slept soundly and softly, though he dreamed of a pleasant past and a future that actually existed, there was a feeling. It played out like a nagging feeling, that whisper at the back of the mind that puts a minor pressure on you. But just because that's what it set in motion in his head doesn't mean that's what he truly felt. No. Finn, the Finn who never laid a misplaced finger on a single soul woke feeling deathly ill for a matter of seconds. Everything from his skin to his bones had an otherworldly cold to it, and he rolled to his side still bound by his sleeping bag because it felt like his stomach would stop at nothing to empty its contents, and he would prefer not to suffer in a pool of his own vomit. Breathing was hard in that time… it reminded him of that day…

And then the moment of sickness passed him; the knot in his gut faded away, the ice in his soul melted down and washed out of him, like he had no choice in the matter, like the sun had touched and erased the darkness, leaving only the soft morning warmth. Finn rolled back to the center of the bed and sat forward. Maybe it was that he expected the room to be wrong, somehow. Maybe it's that he wanted it be wrong, because that would make more sense than the feeling of dying dropping from the sky and falling out just as quickly.

"… What the heck was that?"

"What the heck was what?" Jake rolled over with a somewhat frustrated face. Clearly he had been in the midst of a better state than Finn. "What's up bro? See a ghost?"

"Kinda felt like it."

Finn's arm pushed free from his cocoon, plucking the strings that held his sleeping bag closed. With the string undone, the bag fell apart around him and he climbed from bed with a stretch. He idly scratched himself all over, looking about in search for the suggested phantom that might have jabbed him in the heart. Not that it would have mattered if the ghost theory were true; such an apparition would be likely to be inscrutable. This was less important than breakfast, though, and breakfast must be had. Down into the kitchen he went, leaving Jake alone in bed, which seemed to be his preference for the time being. Whatever it was Jake was dreaming, he didn't want to leave it unfinished. He dropped from the ladder with a loud landing.

"BMO! … BMO?"

Nothing but the empty room. Without Jake or BMO, the room was all too unimpressive; humming quietly, Finn toured a small portion of the quiet space, his feet making heavy sounds on the floor with each step. He found the fridge to be inviting him, the promise of the food within too alluring to ignore in a world without a waiting breakfast. He flipped open the door, the rusting hinges whining as he pushed on the metal load.

"Hm… spaghetti!"

A half-filled gallon bag of noodles and sauce left the refrigerator before the door was shut once more, and Finn was happy in his hunt. So happy that he delighted in blowing raspberries as he made his way to the table. This kitchen table, for reasons only known to the mind of an athletic teenager, seemed at this moment the ideal warm up exercise. With a smirk, he crouched, then leaped forward with a boisterous shout and an agile flip. He landed in a flawless crouch on the bench beyond the broad surface of the table.

"Heh ha! Yeah! … Huh?"

There was a faint creaking… and then a loud snap as the bench gave way beneath him. He rolled to the floor, dropping the spaghetti bag and falling flat on his back, legs held aloft by the ruined furnishing. Finn turned his head across the floor with a groan, not injured but deflated, and curled up with a sigh when he saw that the spaghetti had fared worse than he, the bag's contents vomited across the wooden planks. He rolled backwards into a sitting position and stood up, at least eager to have a small amount of acrobatics end successfully. All in time to have a block of metal fall from the rafters to his back.

"Finn!"

"Bwah! BMO! There you are," Finn uttered in half-surprise. "Playing ninja again."

"Finn! I got you! Ha! … Finn, you broke the bench."

"Yeah," he sighed looking again at what he increasingly felt was a mistake, "I thought something else would happen. Meh, whatevs. BMO, make me breakfast now!"

"Okay Finn. Put me down and I will."

He plopped his automaton on the floor, letting him waddle to the oven. Finn decided to busy himself in the mean time with scooping up the ruined pasta, dirtying his already dirty hands with cold sauce. It was a messy and tedious process, but eventually Finn's tenacity got the best of the food, and he carefully carried this load to the window, tossing it from the tree house with a sloppy toss.

"Finn, how about sausage?"

"Heh," Finn laughed whimsically to himself, "sausage."

"Hey, how long have you been making jokes like that?"

Jake seemed little more than half awake as he made his way to the table, rubbing his eyes clear of any sleep that may remain. His eagerness to nag and parent, however, were stirred completely. But that particular conversation would have to wait, forestalled indefinitely by Jake's foot meeting cold spaghetti sauce. He paused there, his foot stretching to create toes just long enough to wiggle around and feel the wasted food squish between them. With one eye still closed, Jake peered to the floor, seeing the splatter of the bag of leftovers, panning over the trail of sauce drippings and fallen noodles, and spying the open window with a mote of food sitting unassumingly on the sill. The other eye opened, and he took in the sight of the ruined bench.

"Dude, what the heck? First the hill and now the living room?"

"Finn is ripe with boyish attitude today, Jake!"

BMO slowly passed the dog with a platter of sausages, potatoes, and thick slices of toast with fried eggs nestled happily in little holes in the middle. The ensemble was easily the most singularly distracting thing in the whole wide world for a bro without food in his belly. Jake's eyes followed the platter to the table, tail wagging and stomach grumbling. He didn't even notice the cold splat of sauce underfoot as he left a short trail of red foot prints to the table, and he sat in time with the platter's dull thunk as it struck the wood. The sons of Joshua thus dug in as BMO hobbled to a closet, returning with a mop two sizes too big for the tiny living console. This made Jake chuckle, but it was Finn's next action that made him laugh audibly. As they boy munched eagerly on a piping hot sausage, he cocked his head and raised an eye brow.

"What?"

"Heh heh," Jake laughed before muttering, "sausage."

* * *

He stood there silently for a while, fixated, gloomy, and more than a little sad looking. He watched wordlessly as Bubblegum held a hand over her mouth, keeping little wretches trapped behind her lips, willing even less pleasant things back into their place. She said not to touch her, so he wasn't sure he was going to. And speaking, for some reason, seemed wildly inappropriate as well. After giving her some time, Finn stooped down to her level, taking to kneeling when she still was too low to the ground to see clearly. Even then, her face was obscured by her hair. Her hair… thinking about that made Finn's faint sadness fade away. He loved the feel of it; his fingers twitched at the thought of its texture and softness. Maybe just one quick brush…? He reached out slowly, but halted and withdrew when he saw the glint of her eye.

"What did I just tell you?! Don't you- mmph!"

Another heinous gurgling sound interrupted her, one so strong that her tired eyes forced out one or two tears. It wasn't pain that wracked her now, but deep and withering frustration; you could tell that simply by watching her pound a fist against the floor, wheezing harshly through her teeth. Finn took this all in, still sad, still wanting to touch that hair. After a moment, she hissed out a small set of words.

"… Why are you here?"

Did she want him to talk? It seemed that way, since she was feeding him such an open-ended question. Did she really mean to ask why? Was she just talking to herself, trying to make sense of it all? Philosophy, though, was far from Finn's strong suit. Even this Finn lacked time and eagerness for such exercises. Instead he sat silently; that was the appropriate reflex when you didn't know what to do, or so he had learned. The quiet air was deeply disturbing.

"… Answer me…"

It was so low a whisper that it was very nearly inaudible. Finn, still on his knees, inched toward her, but dared do little more. Impatience took its toll.

"Answer me!"

He sprung backwards into a crouch, almost animal like in reflexes and stance. Once the echo of her anger faded out, Finn pensively crawled back to where he sat, kneeling in the warm spot he occupied a moment ago. He was so edgy… it was equal parts annoying and pathetic. But once it looked like he was calm again, Bubblegum breathed cooly and smoothly, and spoke once again.

"Finn. Finn from the mirror. Why are you here?"

"… I," he whispered, "I just. I just wanted to be warm again…"

"Warm? That's why you're here? Because it's warm?"

She gritted her teeth and stared at him, and all he did was stare at her, his eyes perhaps the only thing more dull and tired than hers. She glanced at his nude body, at first numb with the memory of what he used it to do to her, then strangely sad as she counted the scars that blemished his skin. Each inch of flesh looked worn and old, like parchment left to be settled by dust, interrupted only by those cuts and scours and burns. She looked at his face, lines of weariness and yet more scars nestled between locks of blond hair robbed of vibrancy. His whole body was plagued with the look of illness and exhaustion. The princess's eyes fell upon Finn's gear, heaped up next to a table ten feet away. Dark, scorched, bleak. All together, the only word that fit this whole image, the word that summed up this Finn's life? Cold.

"It's warm here, princess," he said as his hand reached out. It stopped mere inches from her face, fingers half extended. "And… and you're here."

She stared at his hand, her mouth slightly open to communicate her dread. She was sure she would have to shout at him again, remind him that touching was a strict violation. The words, though, were unwilling to be formed, and Bubblegum wasn't sure if it was pity or apathy that was responsible for this verbal blockade. She trembled instead of speaking, and a shock of hair fell in front of her eyes. It remained for a moment, blocking her view until Finn's fingers traced their way across her cheek, pulling her soft, silky, candy hair away, guiding it past her ear. And when he rested his palm against her jaw and his fingertips on her neck, she was sure a faint ghost of a smile played on his lips as he felt the warmth of her skin. She seemed strangely stoic, but that stoicism didn't last too long against the predations of a sharp little comment that was eager to emerge.

"If you're so cold, put your clothes back on," she said icily as her fingers gently gripped his wrist. She pushed his hand away, reached up to the table, and mustered energy enough to stand again. Bubblegum then stood there, staring out into the sunlit world through the balcony door, not minding the cool breeze on the bare skin her ragged dress left her, or maybe just not caring. Her feet moved one after the other in that direction, glancing at her rapist once more as she passed with a few more words, "And don't touch me."

Finn watched her walk away then, pensive as before, obsessed with her movements, each tiny twitch of her joints bringing back tiny remembrances of times since passed. Outside the observatory, though, was activity of the minor kind; the repairs Peppermint Butler commissioned the night before were nearly complete, the replacement brick being meticulously set into the floor with frosting and sealant. The tiny manservant himself had watched passively as the candy crafters extracted the broken shards, wondering still what had caused the shattering to begin with. He thought at the time that maybe the work crew had caused the damage, but now? No, now he wasn't sure. Peppermint Butler hadn't stayed to watch the finishing touches, other duties calling him away. The princess's breakfast needed preparation and serving, so that's the matter he busied himself with. He pushed in front of him an ornately carved wooden cart; its wheels ran smoothly against the candy-stone floor, and it was topped with a simple white cloth beneath a plate covered quaintly by a silver cloche. Though he couldn't see over the cart, P. Butler wheeled his load through the halls with perfect dexterity, seeking out his lady's bedroom. He slowed the cart, a heavy thing for his small body, just past the door he sought, and he reached casually as high as he could. Knock, knock, knock… not a sound.

"Princess?" he beckoned before another trio of knocks. "Princess, your breakfast is ready. … Princess?"

He opened the door and stepped inside, finding the room just as he had left it the night before: bed made ready for a sleeping miss who had not turned in, ever burning candles left to light to room, and curtains drawn shut. She wasn't sick in bed, which made the quiet candy sigh in relief. She likely spent another night slumped over a table in the lab or observatory. Probably the observatory, he thought; Mars was beautifully visible this time of year. As he remade the bed, opened the curtains, and capped the magical candles, Peppermint Butler felt a strangeness run up one side and down the other. The shattered flagstone… it lay just a few feet from the observatory door. He still had no theory for the required repairs, but he knew three things, including the distance between the brick and the room in question. One of those was that across from the observatory lay the Smoking Mirror. And the other, the third fact, was that Peppermint Butler knew utter dark when he saw it. And the shadows of that looking glass echoed with utter dark, the pure essence of the infinite inner plane of negative energy. Similar items could serve as doors of darkness… and P. Butler counted that as a fourth relevant fact in his train of thought. Pulling the door closed on the princess's unused chamber, he resumed pushing the breakfast cart in search of his lady. He was pierced with a noisome dread, but he didn't move too hastily, just in case it was paranoia that drove him. The castle seemed so much larger to him now that he felt this new sensation, each hall interminably long, each corner shadowed with intimidating effects of light. And at the end of the psychological tunnel, the spicy mint pulled to a halt. He looked at the observatory door, quietly pondering the shadow; he then turned to look at the other door, on the other side of which was the shadow itself. The newly fixed brick lay at his feet, and he scanned that too, eyes pulling into a squint. From the brick to the door, from the door to the brick, then back to the observatory door. But all this sitting here around him, the two doors and the mysteriously broken stone, did nothing to him. In fact, the paranoia he had felt earlier had since become obscure, nothing more than a quiet little thorn of anxiety in the back-end of his mind. So Peppermint Butler approached the door, tiny hand raised to begin its knocking.

Beyond the door way, Finn had redressed himself, boots and belt and all. He swung his great sword to his back in one fluid motion, locking it into the holster fixed to his breastplate. Into his boot went his knife, and onto his head went the bear skull helm, though he didn't pull the haggard, toothy thing over his face. So dressed he stepped quietly toward middle of the room, looking out into the morning, and looking at Bubblegum as she stared out across Ooo. She was dressed in white now, a lab coat she had pulled from a supply rack kept handy in the observatory for those days when more elaborate work than stargazing was at hand. She ran her fingers up and down the row of buttons holding it closed, remembering the journey of the knife, the fear of having so sharp a device so close to her vulnerable flesh. She ran her mind over thoughts cold and inscrutable. Below her, the world seemed to be running as it always did. Her citizens milled about unaffected by the fact that their regent had been violated; it made her hum quietly, that thought that the world didn't care. I'm not a proud person, she always thought. I'm just a part of this big, beautiful world, she always said. But now that the world wasn't so big and beautiful, Bonnibel couldn't help but be upset by the impersonality of it all. Somehow, through this impenetrable static, Bubblegum felt _his _eyes on him. She turned around to see him staring at her, opening her mouth to speak in time to hear a knock at the door. She started at the sound, a gasp escaping her lips as she jumped back an inch. Finn's reflex was also of surprise; he sprung away from the open space of the observatory floor to a space just outside the view of the doorway.

"Princess? Are you in here?"

The door creaked open, and through the portal came Peppermint Butler. He walked a few steps into the room, unaware that around the corner lurked a silent predator of a boy. A predator of a boy who Bubblegum saw pull his knife from his boot, ready to strike and slay whoever dared cross his field of vision. Perhaps sensing something wrong, P. Butler paused just a foot short of rounding the corner. Princess Bubblegum, afraid as she was, walked to meet her manservant, stopping at the near-silent sound of leather tightening as Finn clutched his knife. She stole a quick glance at Finn, and P. Butler himself glanced to the corner that obscured his vision. That tiny, anxious thought began to bloom into fear again, but he dared not do something that might result in his lady's harm.

"Princess Bubblegum…"

"Peppermint Butler," she began slowly, not daring to look at Finn again, "how are you today?"

"Quite well, princess. Your breakfast is ready. Shall I bring it in?"

"No," she replied quickly, "No, you can take it next door to the study. I'll eat it there."

"Of course, my lady."

He walked back toward the door backwards, each foot slowly lifting, moving, and depositing the manservant a little further along, never taking his eyes off Bubblegum, never letting his guard down. Once past the threshold, hand on the handle, Peppermint Butler had a thought that he could communicate understanding to his charge, reassure her in a way.

"Princess," he began, "last night while I was making my rounds, I found a tile just outside the storage room that was shattered."

"Oh… I didn't know that."

"If you need anything, princess," he said slowly and calmly, "you know you need only ring."

She nodded solemnly as he closed the door. A moment passed before Finn sheathed his knife and crawled around the corner to look at the door. Once sure the room was secured, he stood and walked toward the balcony. Bubblegum watched his approach, seeing he had now pulled the bear skull over his face. It gave him a most dreadful visage, unsettling and mired in the unapologetic look of the dead. He stopped about five feet short of her, and she grimaced briefly before whispering.

"As long as you are in this castle," she hissed at him, "you will not harm any of my people. Do you understand?"

She heard the door in the study adjoined by the balcony, the slow, smooth run of the cart, and the placing of the breakfast platter. The activity also had Finn's attention, and he crouched again, reaching for his blade. The princess raised her hand to him, signaling to wait, and he obeyed. When the door to the study closed again, she dropped her hand to her side, and lowered her head with a deep exhalation.

"… This is some sort of bad dream," she whispered to herself.

* * *

The boys emerged from the tree house to greet the warm day, conversation already underway, though it was far from about what to busy themselves with that day.

"And that's why you shouldn't make puns about sausages, Finn."

"Wait, you mean-?"

"Yes, it's exactly like what I told you," Jake said with enthusiastic strictness, "and we won't talk about it again until you're old enough to be dead."

Finn then fell quiet. He never thought of sausages quite that way. Well, he did, that's why it was funny; it was the idea of the metaphorical sausage once it reached the mouth that made him silent in thought. He grimaced at that very thought in time to see Jake stumble and fall. The boy laughed, thinking only that Jake's spastic clumsiness had gotten the best of him. When Jake rolled over with a frustrated scowl, though...

"Dude, what the heck?! Don't trip me!"

"I didn't. … Oh, but I bet he did."

Finn pointed at a tiny thing of a creature, no more than four inches high. Short and yellow, and so very sour looking. The lemon-headed gremlin stared up at Finn with small, almost angry looking eyes. Finn stared back, even as Jake stood and took to his bro's side, joining in the awkward exchange of gazes. It was eerie, the way that creature stared at them, at both of them. In fact, it took to looking at each of them with one of its eyes, granting it a sort of weirdness that was weird even for a scion of Lemongrab. After what seemed an eternity of this garden variety madness, Finn blinked and piped up.

"What's up?"

It sat silent as a garden gnome, but its eyes refocused on Finn. Suddenly, it was silent no more.

"The honorable Earls of Lemongrab summon you, Jake the Dog and Finn the Human!" It shrieked out its message, and startled the boys with the shrillness and volume of its voice. "They summon you to Castle Lemongrab, and you will come!"

With that, it seems the messenger had finished his work, and he was homeward bound in a moment's time. F and J were thus left with pierced ear drums and a blizzard of questions. Finn took to asking the first.

"So… should we follow him?"

"Dude, no," Jake responded whilst rubbing his ears, "I hate that guy. He's ten pounds of bonkers."

"Heh heh, yeah. Butt-slapping crazy!"

"Ha ha! That's- dude, what? Butt-slapping?"

"Yeah, you know. Like when something's so crazy that-."

"You have been summoned!"

Yet another blast of shuddering noise, so dreadfully loud that all the birds flew the coop from the boughs and branches of the sole tree of the grasslands. It startled them again, since it seems they thought the annoyance of a being had left. Not so, apparently, as he stood some fifty feet out, doing what looked like glaring at them.

"Yeah, we heard you the first time, you donk!" Jake called over. "Just go ahead without us, we'll get there when we get there!"

This seemed satisfactory; the lemon-runner turned back in the general direction of Castle Lemongrab, not altogether eager to go there, but driven to do so just the same. Lemons were always a curious lot. Watching to make sure he left this time seemed the sole focus of Finn and Jake this time around, who waited until the messenger had left before resuming talks.

"So," Finn began, "yeah, do we follow him?"

"Hmph. I guess so."

"Yeah, probably somethin' important."

"Importantly crazy, I bet. Man, I hate Lemongrab…"

"Totes man."

* * *

The road to Lemongrab was neither long nor arduous, but since the destination was so unpleasant, it took Finn and Jake a good long time to get there just the same, as they opted to walk slow and crack jokes rather than hurry to the absurdist summons of a pair of sovereign lunatic lemons. When at last they reached the gates to the keep, they found once more the pint sized messenger who had delivered that summons.

"You're arrival was anticipated!" It bellowed in its tiny but explosive voice. "The beneficent Earls thank you in advance for coming and leaving!"

"… Dude, what?" Finn began.

"Yeah man," Jake followed, "what the heck? They called us here to send us home? Stupid…"

"Nay!"

That was all it said in reply, turning to push open the gates and open the courtyard to Finn and Jake. It beckoned them to follow and led them through the manic space of the keep, populated with every manner of grotesque creation. Finn recalled the first time he saw Lemongrabs' handy work, and thought for a moment these ones he saw now were even uglier than memory served. When the sight of the courtyard was replaced with that of the entrance hall, the sound of gibbering citrus-folk was replaced as well, but with the quiet echo of shoed feet meeting hard floor. Up stairs and down curving halls they went, reminding Finn too of his recent visit to the Candy Kingdom. Spooky how this exact thing had happened twice now…

"Hey Jake," Finn whispered, "what do you think the Earls want?"

"You know I don't know, man. Why ask me?"

"Huh, okay. What about you little guy?"

Jake pantomimed aggressive disagreement when he saw Finn trying to talk to the shrill messenger, not wanting to have to hear the ringing in his ears again after the sour critter spoke. Thankfully, though, he did not, instead focusing on pulling open a heavy metal door. Or rather, trying to pull open said door. After a moment, and pause in which Finn and Jake exchanged glances, Finn reached out and pushed the obstruction open. It yielded in this way, and the lemon man fell to his face, rolling over with an annoyed hum.

"Noble Earls of Lemongrab!" It shrieked from the floor, "Your guests have arrived!"

The room beyond the metal door was a dome shaped space painted yellow, much like the rest of the ugly castle. The round ceiling was perforated with countless brass tubes that reached from the top of the room to very near the bottom, each ending in what looked like a tiny glass lens. At the center, where the complex and cumbersome network of telescopes and periscopes terminated, stood a table, and at the table stood the twin Earls of Lemongrab. They were pouring over something that neither visitor could see unless they moved closer. But given the nature of the Earls, that was not an endeavor easily departed on. The obnoxious regents paid no heed to the messenger, nor Finn and Jake, but the lemon squire cared not, his mission now complete. He left the room, pulling the metal door shut. It clapped loudly against the frame, metal on metal echoing through the room. There was then only the sound of the Earls humming away. Until…

"Finn. Jake."

"Come closer and see what we see."

"Yes. Closer."

They spoke quietly. Or as quietly as they could, under the circumstances. The dog and human, reluctant as they were, exchanged another glance, this time with eye brows furled in either courage or frustration; they walked to the center of the room, Finn watching out for the brass equipment poking down from above, and Jake doing nothing of the sort. When they reached the table, they peered at what the Earls had in front of them: a star chart, of sorts, with a black line drawn across a short expanse, and several notes of unintelligible writing. While looking it over, Finn was drawn again and again to the short black line. To him, it looked somewhat like a tear, or a scar.

"Uhm, okay," Jake said quietly, "now that we're closer, you can totally just talk to us instead of yell, right?"

"Yes," one began tiredly.

"We can talk instead of yelling," finished the counterpart.

Neither took its eyes off the star chart. And after a minute of this, Finn finally had to say something.

"Dudes, Earls, what's up? What do you guys want?"

"Look, Finn," hissed the first, "look at the heavens and you will see it."

"Uhm, see what?"

"Look here!" The Earls shouted in unison, pointing at the black line they had drawn.

"Yeah, okay, you drew a scribble," Jake said impatiently.

"No! No scribble! A darkness!"

"Yes! A darkness! Do you see it, Finn and Jake!? Look at it!"

"Look at it!"

This disturbing exchange culminated in both Lemongrabs pointing their harsh, quivering digits at the small section of chart they blotted out with ink. But loud words and shaking fingers did little to communicate what they had to say.

"Last night," the Earl began, "we spied a darkness in the heavens."

"Yes, a darkness. It blotted out many stars in a long, jagged line."

"We thought at first it was death. We thought it was the stars."

"That the stars had died!"

"But we were wrong… it is not the stars going dark."

Finn looked to Jake for guidance in this, for not a single word made sense to him. Jake simply shrugged, no more versed in the ramblings of the deranged than any other man or beast.

"Lemongrab, what are you talking about? Seriously."

They turned their eyes in unison to Finn, then to Jake, then back to Finn, and finally upon themselves, humming loudly in frustration all the while.

"It's not the stars!"

"No, not the stars going dark, but the sky! It goes dark with a crack!"

"A crevice!"

"A hole in the sky!" They cried together. "Finn and Jake!"

They turned their mad and tired eyes to their guests once more, who seemed less confused and more spooked now. No doubt, the idea of a hole in the sky could frighten anyone, if only for a moment. But again, what could one say about the Earls of Lemongrab except that they are simply, wholly mad. So when F and J were ushered to gates of Lemongrab without another word, that's all the two could honestly think of the whole trip to the castle. Jake was the first to break the puzzled silence.

"Dude, what did I tell you?"

"Butt-slapping crazy…"

"Yeah," Jake said with a sigh, "yeah, you're right. They _are_ butt-slapping crazy. Let's go home."

"Yeah man, that sounds good."

They pointed their feet homeward, taking a few paces before Finn paused.

"We could go home… or?"

"… Adventure time?"

"Adventure time."

"Alright man," Jake said happily, hoisting his bro upon his back as he grew to a much grander size, "which way?"

"The mountains this time. Gotta' be somethin' out there we haven't seen yet!"

Jake, thusly, stomped off in that direction, long elastic limbs supporting him like stocky tendrils as he bounded away from Castle Lemongrab. As he rode high and felt the wind in his face, Finn was overcome with a feeling… a feeling of falling. And sickness. He tugged on Jake's ears, and Jake summarily stopped.

"Dude, what's up?"

Finn had turned his attention back toward the Candy Kingdom, the opposite direction of the mountains, but for some reason the direction he felt the cold feeling coming from. It was so much like what he felt when he woke up that day… and it passed just as quickly.

"… Nothing. Let's go."


	3. The Mad Swordsman

**The Mad Swordsman**

* * *

There's something deeply miraculous about the simple act of bathing. Through heat and water, we can wash away anything, through the subtle, pleasant chemistry of hygiene we erase the accumulated blights of yesterday, letting it all pour down a hole in the floor and out of the light forever. Of course, water and heat would have a dreadful effect upon a body made of sugar, erasing structure and swallowing all memory of taffy flesh and gum arabic into the swirling waterways below. So, naturally, Princess Bubblegum washed away the filth she felt crawling on her body not with water, but with a most strange elixir she herself designed for the very purpose. It flowed like water if heated to the proper temperature, conveniently the same temperature that she found most comforting after a stressful day.

She let the sea green colored alchemical mixture pour from the shower head across her body, and she dragged her hands across her arms slowly without much more than a thought about how much she liked the heat. … She decided not to dwell too much on the idea of craving warmth. Bubblegum's hands roamed up to her shoulders as the the icy chill of remembrance, and she hugged herself and bowed her head into the shower, drowning her full head of hair in the flow of hot elixir. She pulled the mass of her hair around and draped it across her chest as she turned slowly. Her back happily drank in the reward of the shower, her torqued muscles thanking the conscious effort for relief. But the tension in her back was not the only thing that let go. She fell to her knees then and there, clutching her hair tight to her chest, and the tiny, perfectly shaped tears that fell from her eyes were washed out by the sea green potion that fell over her body. Bubblegum choked on a few hiccups, perhaps still not wanting to cry, fearing a show of weakness, but after a shuddered breath, the pain finally weaseled its way out.

She inhaled deeply, then sobbed horribly to the sound liquid striking the shower pan; her eyes jumped from a few tears to a river breaking its banks. Her fingers dug into into her arms where they rested, her nails digging into her skin, pushing her flesh down to her bones. With another crushing spasm of crying shame, Bubblegum fell to her hands. But it thankfully seemed that was to be the last of her swallowed sadness, and she mustered the effort to stand once again, relying heavily on the shower wall for that endeavor. Breathing, though, remained an exercise all its own. As the shower poured over her chest and stomach, her lungs filled up again and again with heated, steamy air. She turned off the shower, leaving only the sound of her breathing in the tiled room. One last heaving sob echoed out from her throat, followed by a gasp and a hard swallow.

"Huh… okay. Yeah. Yeah, I'm good now."

She slid the shower door open, but was strangely afraid to go out into the bathroom, fearing she might see her stalker waiting there for her. That thought was dreadful, as it would be to just about anyone in so vulnerable a state as being naked in the shower. For Bubblegum, though, the more dreadful thought was being trapped there forever, not by her foe, but by her fear of him. And she resolved not be a victim of her own fears, a part of her she could control. One damp foot left the shower pan behind, and the delicate thing was planted upon the rug just beyond the frosted glass door, each toe finding its way to the cotton-soft surface and pulling her inexorably away from panic. Her other foot found sanctuary soon after, and Bubblegum stood quietly at that threshold with a faint shudder haunting her frame. She held her hair around the front of her body still, tired eyes scanning the room with the continued expectation that Finn might be lurking in the shadows. Her mane was released when the only thing to greet her was the empty space, and her body was exposed when her locks fell to the side. Without breaking eye contact with the door, she reached for her towel. All the while, she couldn't shake the feeling of not being alone.

Finn, meanwhile, sat on the railing of the balcony, bear skull lifted up to free his eyes of the macabre tunnel of vision, exposing the view of Ooo's grasslands. His dour, almost gargoyle-like appearance, contrasted wildly against the boyish smile on his face, as he popped one piece of rock candy after another into his mouth, feet kicking gently about as he swung his legs about. His thoughts, by observation, seemed to be clear for the first time in a good long while.

Bubblegum, dressed now in an after shower gown, twisted a towel around her hair to squeeze out the remnants of the bathing potion. Her feet went from cold tile to the soft, warm rug of her bedroom floor. She was still tinged with the anxiety of being watched, but was just the same slowly letting go of that feeling as she went room to room, checking closet space and corners. Pulling the towel away, Bubblegum closed her eyes and shook her hair about, fluffing the gum out and sighing wistfully. The world might be okay after all, she thought to herself. … And the air is awfully fresh in here, as well. The princess opened her eyes and turned in the direction of the breeze, expecting to see her windows open, perhaps left that way by Peppermint Butler when he performed his morning duties. An open window, that's all she wanted to see. Not the gaping hole in the wall, edges caked with ice and frost.

"… Oh Grod, not today," she said to herself through a sigh, "Ice King…"

"Hee hee, hi princess. How ya doin'?"

He emerged from his poorly chosen hiding place behind Bubblegum's dresser, and had she been looking for his blue robe and obnoxious crown instead of the contrasting black and white of Finn's ensemble she probably would've skipped to the part where he was noticed and banished. She put a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes whilst growling subtly.

"Ice King, please leave."

"Aww, come on," he prodded whimsically, "aren't you happy to see me? I'm happy to see you. Tee hee!" He leaped onto her bed with another laugh, causing it spring beneath him. He kicked his feet up and swayed them about. "Hm hmm, I love your choice in gowns, you know. And-!"

"Ice King, leave!"

Her shout echoed through the bedroom and out the hole in the wall as she leaned forward and clenched her fists, eyes screwed shut by the frustration. It just wasn't enough, was it? Glob was just that cruel, felt she deserved the strain of the Ice King in addition to her sea of troubles.

"Oooo, touchy touchy. Why so serious princess? Do you need a foot rub?"

"I don't have time for this! Get out or I'll have you thrown into the dungeon to rot!"

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like fun," he spoke mostly to himself, climbing from the bed and scratching his hip idly, "mm, yeah, I don't wanna go to the dungeon…"

"Alright then. Now, leave."

"Yeah, you're right. C'mon, Bubblegum, let's go."

He reached to her, cold, boney fingers stretched and twitching in a bid to take Bonnibel by the wrists. The hand brought to mind the same feelings of anger and shame and revulsion from the last man that touched her; she hissed, and lashed out at him, slapping his hand away fiercely and growling as she spun about.

"What is wrong with you?!", she gasped out in anger, "what is wrong with men?!"

"Hey hey hey, where's this coming from? I've been nothing but a perfect gentleman. For instance," he said with a faint smile as a bolt of blue magic was ejected form his fingertips. It conjoined with her ankles, causing her to fall to the floor as her feet were locked together by ice. "I'm going to do the gentlemanly thing and carry you over the threshold of my bachelor pad."

She breathed heavily into the carpet pressed against her face, a face contorted by pure panic. It was to happen again, wasn't it? She was going to violated again, and again… that's all that was ever going to happen. No. It would only happen again if she let it. Learn from your mistakes, she told herself. You believe in science, believe in changing the outcome. When the Ice King was standing over her, she pushed herself from stomach to her back, and took to striking at his legs and stomach with wanton swings of her tightly balled fists.

"Whoa ho, you're fiery today princess," he said playfully. He reached at her again and again, trying not to get hit in the process. When one of her fists found a mark, concussing his finger violently. With a hiss he backed off, gritted his teeth, and growled angrily. "Enough of this!"

A second bolt of blue, and her fists were bound together. Princess Bubblegum lay bound and helpless again. Well, bound, at any rate; she flailed about more angrily than before, like a freshly caged animal, defiant and full of wrath. But so bound, Bubblegum constituted no more a threat than a flounder pulled from the sea. Ice King plucked her from the floor and tossed her casually over his shoulder.

"See now? Much better. Off we go!"

He walked casually to the hole in the wall, whistling a jaunty tune to himself as Bubblegum defiantly cursed and shouted. He leapt into the air and took to flight.

* * *

Finn, meanwhile, was leaning against the railing with the breakfast plate Bubblegum had left in the study. Cake for breakfast… his anatomy would have words with him later, but for the time being, all the boy could do was enjoy the endless suite of sweets. That is, until bitter smokiness clouded his senses. He heard her, somewhere in the air above him. She was screaming, and the scream ruined his calm, summoning brief flashbacks. When the panic faded, Finn wheeled his head about, scanning the sky for Princess Bubblegum. Where was she…?

"Put me down you greasy son of a-!"

There! He spotted her pink form as she started to fade from ear shot. She was flying off… no, wait. It wasn't her. It was Ice King that was flying away. And the thought of that, of Ice King stealing his lady, his divine muse, inspiring a wrathful flow of blood up and down his chest. Not another word came from his lips, his lips twisting into an angry frown, his eye brows bending darkly at the whim of murderous thoughts. Finn reached to his helm and pulled it down over his face just as he turned to run to the door. He had to do something… every thought was twisted to fit this agenda, and he didn't stop once as he tore through the halls of the castle. Not even when he blustered past Peppermint Butler; they exchanged looks for the brief moment they were in each other's company. Peppermint Butler's expression, previously blank with thought, fell into grim, determined scrutinization as the observed blitzed effortlessly passed the observer. Finn's expression was unobservable. And as quickly as the moment came, it left; Finn spent not another thought on the matter, but Peppermint Butler was not in the least dismissive of the encounter. He stared down the hall where the man in black ran, and he knew that what he had felt before was correct. Finn slammed into a heavy door at the end of the run, opening himself up to a stair case that showcased the open sky. Climbing the steps was easy enough, and the boy knew exactly where he was: the aerie of the Morrow, exactly where he needed to be. Though having spent several minutes running top speed, Finn walked to the great eagle not because he was tired, but because he was calm. Calm, and very, very angry.

* * *

Calm was not the word to describe the princess. Perhaps livid was the better choice, or irate, or wrathful, or possibly unhinged. No, as she flailed about in the Ice King's unwanted embrace, perilously close to dropping a thousand feet to the ground whereat there would be only the embrace of the earth at the end of gravity's unforgiving pull, calm was not what she was. And this, the fact that despite the circumstances, and how Ice King felt she should be, and how different she was behaving compared to his previous abduction attempts, made him not so calm as well. Frustrated would be the proper term here.

"Princess, now! Hmph! This is not respectable behavior!"

"Ask me if I care," she screamed at the top of her lungs, "put me down, you slorbees!"

"What?! What did you call me?!", he hissed as he brought her around for a face to face, "… No, seriously, what?"

Bubblegum lashed out at his face, thrusting her frozen fists against his nose and causing the fool to lose his grip. She fell without a scream, though despite the fact this was somewhat according to the plan, she couldn't help but think now that the plan was, well, bad. The rush of air replaced all sound, even the fevered beating of her heart in her ears. The sky above… it seemed comforting, really. At least she couldn't see the ground approaching, if she kept her back to it. The sudden stop would be a surprise. Almost as much of a surprise as the less sudden feeling of arms under her back, the feeling of wind being knocked from her lungs as she rapidly decelerated into Ice King. Once they both stopped dropping, albeit at a pace much slower than Bubblegum's free fall, the wind was gone, and all that was left was that beating heart, along with the gentle flap of bearded wingbeats.

"Woo, boy. See that? Yeah," Ice King said proudly, "Saved your life. I think that deserves a kiss, don't you?"

She didn't answer, instead letting her face contort into an angry, lip-biting state as a response. Being more than impervious, Ice King did little more than stop smiling. He wondered why she looked this way, why she acted like this. She's been strangely short with him all morning. Maybe, just maybe, left-field theory with no support, maybe it was…

"What, you not gettin' enough fiber?"

"Ice King," she whispered venomously, "you'd better-!"

"Put her down!"

She and he wheeled about as a rush of wind and a wingbeat marked the entrance of a third player in the latest abduction attempt of Princess Bubblegum. She recognized him immediately, but Ice King was more than confused about the arrival of a black-garbed, skull-faced interloper on the back of Bubblegum's precious pet eagle.

"Eh? What is this?"

"Put her down…", he spoke calmly and reached back to the hilt of his sword, "And you won't have to die today."

"… Bleh, spooky," Ice King responded half-seriously. "He-hey princess, who's this guy?"

"Ice King, put me down…"

She seemed not so angry now. Not irate, nor wrathful, nor unhinged any longer. Mildly afraid was now the proper descriptor. Afraid of what, though, was the question. And as imperceptible Ice King was about her fury, he had no inkling as to the source of that fear she felt now.

"You heard her," Finn barked out now, "put her down!"

He drew his sword, that blackened, razor-sharp stretch of cutting alloy. It gleamed angrily in the morning sun for a brief moment before tiny flecks of metal in its surface came to life. They sparked briefly, glittering like fire, until with a mean pop the whole sword lit up with a flaming aura. They thereafter regarded each other, the Ice King and the intruder. He lost his bemusing sentiment the second he was menaced by this young whelp, eye brows bent in serious thought.

"Wanna' play, do ya'? You don't know who you're messing with boy."

"I know exactly who you are…", his voice hissed with deep loathing in time with a change in the wind.

A moment passed where the two parties stared at each other, hovering in the air on beard and wing. Ice King, perhaps not wanting to risk anything serious, perhaps not considering everything, began to descend to the earth below. Finn watched through his helmet for a moment before directing the Morrow to follow suit, and in moments both he and his foe were earthbound.

"Right, since we're dueling like gentlemen for the hand of the princess," Ice King began, taking a few steps away from Finn and depositing Bubblegum on the ground. He turned to walk back to where he began, pausing only to wheel about and discharge twin volleys of magic at the ground around her feet. Pillars and spines of ice sprung up about her body, holding her fast in a freezing cold prison. It sliced her clothing slightly and pressed aggressively against her limbs, causing her gasp loudly.

"Princess!"

"Hey," Ice King turned with an accusatory digit, "don't move. I'm talking. Since we're dueling for the princess, I'm just gonna' keep her nice and safe."

"You call this safe, you lunatic?", she fired back at him. He dismissed her concerns with a subtle chuckle.

"Alright blacky, I'll give you first- whoa!"

Ice King's taunting, an activity he usually indulged in for more than mere seconds, was cut short by a great sword burying itself nearly where he stood. He had fallen back in time to avoid being bifurcated quite neatly, and from his vantage point on his rump, he could easily see the eyes glimmering inside the bear's skull. It wasn't a friendly glimmer, as Finn stood over him, clutching the blazing sword that sliced open the dirt and singed the grass. He pulled the blade free and prepared another swing.

"Oh boy! Nope!", Ice King yelped out, throwing up a hand to release a gout of snow and ice at his would be attacker, who seemed content to merely pivot his body so the flaming great sword took the brunt of the snow-blind. Steam burst from the spot where the opposing essences crashed together, filling the air with vapor and a low hiss. Ice King hastily, albeit clumsily, stood up and hopped backwards pointing another hand into the spot where steam had gathered. "Want some more?"

His answer was a swing from the sword, a horizontal slice that emerged from the cloud of white vapor without any warning. The fire coating the black blade licked out at Ice King's whiskers, but did little else, besides cause the old man to step back. Finn flowed with the attack, circling out from the cover of the steam in time with his swing, gaining momentum, and swinging a second time, this time with a vicious growl and a cruel sound of slicing air. Spry despite his age and frozen body, the Ice King did not fall to this otherwise vicious power attack; springing back with the air of his beard, he hovered a foot or so off the ground and swirled his hands about. The somatic display gave rise to volley of ice shards, which with a twitch of his fingers were sent hurtling Finn's way; knowing this attack would fail, Ice King muttered briefly and conjured an even deadlier weapon to follow up. Finn merely crouched as he continued his spin, swinging his blade through the lower portion of the volley as he ducked to avoid the rest of it. He raised his blade and cleaved through the large icicle sent for his heart. It shattered with the sound of crashing thunder as the sword sliced it up the middle. Ice King's cruel smile faded to a sad, dumbfounded look.

"… Okay. That's pretty good. Princess, this guy's pretty good," he said looking back at her. She didn't deign to respond, instead focusing on shivering inside her arctic prison cell.

"Last chance to let her go Ice King," Finn called to him as he stood and assumed a stance wherein his sword touched the ground in front of him, "or I'll have to cut you in half."

"You know kid, you sound real familiar… did we meet sometime? Oh, I bet I know! You're probably one of those goth kids I used to run around with!"

"Have it your way!"

Pulling his sword across the earth with a mean scrape, Finn took to spinning once more, which at first must have made little sense; his enemy was some ten feet away, hovering, ready to take flight at a moment's notice. What neither Ice King nor Princess Bubblegum knew though was how versed this Finn was in fighting in new, brutally effective and surprising ways. When Finn completed his rotation, he loosed his sword from his hands, and it spun angrily toward the Ice King as he floated in the air. Now, this posed a puzzling problem with only a second to make a choice. The blade was wide enough that banking to one side or the other would probably result in, at the very least, a crippling and severely painful wound. There wasn't time enough to fly up high enough to avoid being cut down at the knees, an equally undesirable outcome. Forward and backward? Certainly not. The choice was made instantly, because what other choice was there? Ice King dropped to the ground and ducked, as to do anything else would be certain death. He heard the blade fly over his head, the heat of the flames warmed his skin as it approached and passed. And the unmistakable sound of metal striking metal filled the air. When the sword was safely passed, the wizard reached to his skull in panic, knowing full well that his crown, his source of power, his only reasonable weapon, had been uncannily knocked off his head. Ice King had closed his eyes while narrowly avoiding decapitation, but he opened them again when he heard rapid approaching foot steps. He spied his opponent closing in in time to see a fist drifting speedily towards his face. The whole of his wrinkled, wintry face rippled from the impact of Finn's punch, his body contorting to flow with the heavy momentum of the attack. But Ice King didn't drop; it seems being pummeled on a regular basis by the likes of Finn and Jake had the curious effect of making him slightly more resilient. Or maybe it was that scar tissue from all those pummeling was finally thick enough to soften blows. Though dazed, Ice King managed to keep standing, raising his shaking hands to defend himself. As his attacker pressed the advantage, the disarmed magic user found himself needing a trick to rely upon. Again, his many scrapes with his friendly nemeses provided some use. Thrusting his hand to his pocket with ninja like speed, Ice King gripped tight what he found there and flung to eye holes of the skull-wearing menace.

"Ba-boosh, pocket sand!"

The desired result was achieved, and Finn staggered about angrily for a matter of seconds while Ice King reached up his sleeve, gripping that most handy of ninja weapons, at least to his knowledge. He pulled loose his nunchaku and spun them wildly in defense. He thought quietly to himself, or as quietly as he could in that rambunctious mind, that he should have attacked, he should have cracked open the mercenary's head and won the duel handily. But as Finn slowly stood and growled, sounding less like a man and more like some furious beast, he could do little else other than keep a defensive stance with his whirling weapon. With bloodshot eyes staring him down through the sockets of a sun-bleached bear's head, Finn communicated murderous will in the mere seconds before lunged forward, charging past Ice King's left side. He tumbled through a hole in Ice King's defense, who tried and failed to swing his weapon in time. The old wizard didn't even get to see Finn punch him in the kidney, or grab and pull his left arm around, forcing Ice King to drop his weapon and cry out in pain. He twisted hard, forcing the Ice King to his knees. With a curt release and a cruel frown behind his mask of death, Finn drew both fists into air above his helpless foe's head, and brought them down to the soft spot he learned again and again lay there. He growled out viciously, and the sound of his gloved fists crashing into the back of Ice King's head caused Princess Bubblegum to grimace.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that made her grimace over the course of this short-lived brawl. Though she wasn't entirely sure she wanted either party to win, and indeed would be hopelessly trapped in either case, Bubblegum began to feel more and more sympathy for Ice King, particularly once he took that blow to the face. Never had she thought Finn could be as ruthless as this, even this Finn from the mirror, who had already displayed significant deficiencies in humanity. She winced when Ice King, her standby threat, was shocked by the punch to his back, and she uttered a slight gasp when Finn took to twisting his arm around. The finishing blow, which left the wizard crumpled on the ground like a wasted paper bag, left her somewhat nauseous, yet a little glad that she didn't need to see more. But when Finn reached to his boot and pulled loose his knife, Bonnibel gasped out loud. He raised it above his head with a great eagerness to tear into ice cold flesh and be done with it. But before the blow could be struck…

"Stop!"

And he did, though he didn't know why at the time. Turning aggressively on the source of the impediment, the sound that halted his coup d'est grace, Finn gazed coldly at the princess, who continued to shiver away in what may shortly be her frosty tomb. He walked quietly but quickly, and noticeably angrily, toward her, stopping a foot from her face.

"Why? Why should I?"

"F-finn," she began, though was interrupted by a shudder, "you can't do this… you h-have to stop yourself. Y-you can't just …"

"He'll just do it again! He'll just come back and screw it all up again! I can end this right here, right now," Finn hissed, "I have the means and the end."

He stomped back to the Ice King's crushed form, and stood over him for a moment, knife in hand but not raised for a killing blow. Bubblegum watched him, hoped quietly, despite her chattering teeth. She hoped that the bloodlust she witnessed could fade. She whispered her appeal one last time and hoped he would hear.

"Finn… please don't…"

After a time of deep and heady contemplation, he made his choice. Finn sheathed his knife, waited a moment, and half-heartedly kicked Ice King in the side. The old fool didn't respond, except to draw a short breath of air. The boy grumbled still as he walked away from his downed adversary and toward his sword, which lay several yards away near the magic crown. For a brief moment, he thought about taking the crown, finding this more passive way to remove the Ice King as a threat. But he chose not to. He chose to address the more pressing matter; slinging his sword behind his back, Finn hustled to Princess Bubblegum, who was starting to look blue from her cold confines.

"Finn, I-."

"You're safe now… that's all that matters. Princess, please hold still."

He curled his hands around his sword hilt and drew it back out, this time dancing with crackling flame. Pressing the blade against the columns of ice caused them to melt somewhat, to the point that a good strong hit would crack them apart. Finn took a step back and swung his sword, slicing the pillars horizontally with the tip of his blade. The searing metal struck hard and ruined the icy bonds one after the other. Princess Bubblegum fell free from the ice, though not without falling forward across one of the wicked sharp remnants. She emerged from the cage with a long, ragged looking cut down the side of her leg. She cried out as the wound was made and fell to the ground. Finn, upon seeing this, dropped his weapon and crouched to her aid. He tried to pull her into his arms, but she fought against him, albeit weakly.

"S-stop it! This is… you. Your fault. It is…"

"Princess? Are you all right?"

"I'm… cold…"

She faded from consciousness with a tired and frozen sigh. Without her resistance, Finn found it remarkably easy to scoop her up and carry her back to the Morrow. The great bird cocked its head and stared at its charge with concerned eyes as Finn did his best to situate her on its back; once he was sure she wouldn't fall, he returned for his sword, sheathing it securely in its holster before taking one last, hate filled glance at the Ice King. He got to live today. Tomorrow, maybe not so lucky. He sprinted back to the Morrow, mounted it, and with Bubblegum safe in his arms took to flight.

* * *

The Morrow returned to its aerie after what seemed like hours, though given the Morrow's legendary speed, that was likely just Finn's imagination. He clutched Bubblegum to him as the bird soared back to the Candy Kingdom, holding her close to him, feeling the cold seep from her body back into his. He remembered everything he told her last night, and this morning… how all he wanted was to be warm. But left alone with his thoughts, all he could think about was how he should be cold instead. The Morrow descended with a screech, and as it landed, the aerie came alive with a troupe of Banana Guards. Peppermint Butler, certain of his instincts, had gathered a group to find and arrest what he was sure was an impostor. Not finding him in the castle was unsettling enough. Finding that the princess was gone was worse. And finding that gaping hole in the wall of her bedchamber? The last straw, as it were. When the Morrow landed, and the intruder clambered down with Bubblegum in his arms, his fears spiked.

"Guards! Secure the princess! Arrest the intruder!"

Time slowed to a crawl; the Banana Guards began to move toward him, and Finn, not free to draw his sword, clutched his hard won damsel closer to his body as his legs tensed. It seemed that violence was to be the theme of the day. But it was not to be, as the princess had regained some semblance of waking over the course of her flight back to the castle.

"Banana Guards… stand down…"

"What?", Finn and Peppermint Butler said in unison, though from opposite ends of the aerie. Both also looked to the princess to see what followed, and the guards waited for orders to come.

"Peppermint Butler… find Finn and Jake…"

"Princess…?", began her servitor. He was cut off when Finn hurried past him, running down the stairs and into the corridors. The guards rushed in pursuit, though stopped when P. Butler raised his hand to them. The frown he wore spoke volumes of his discontent… but for now, he would have to believe his lady was safe. She wouldn't have stopped him otherwise. And in the mean time, he would follow orders.

Finn took the princess to her bed chamber. With some minor difficulty he managed to open the door without dropping his ward, and walked slowly into the half-lit space beyond it. The hole in the wall was partially covered with a tarp and two lines of red tape, a temporary solution, he supposed, and that blocked out a good portion of the now noon-day sun from that side of the room. He stood in the center of the room for a while, peering about through his helmet. Sand still ground about in his eyes, so with a slight shift he reached up and pushed the skull up over his face. No sooner did he do this was Finn greeted with what might have been the greatest sensation he ever felt; Bubblegum, in a bid to warm herself further, nuzzled her chilled face into his neck and check, now freshly exposed. His heart threatened to burst from his chest, and with a dire blush and weak smile Finn walked the short remainder of the distance to the bed. He laid her upon it and swaddled up her torso with the blanket spread across the mattress, planning to cover her legs much the same way when he saw the glaring wound on her thigh and calf. It dripped blood, or whatever passed for blood in her body, to which Finn responded by removing his gear. Helmet, sword, armor all went to the floor until he was dressed only in his under clothing, and he thereafter hurried to the bathroom. Bubblegum, meanwhile, shuddered under her covers, shivering into waking and breathing sharp, short breaths. Her eyes scanned the ceiling above her, and at once she knew where she was. She didn't remember, though, too much after she blacked out in the field, so how she got here and how she wound up mummified in her bed spread was beyond her. She guessed, though, that it was…

"Princess," he said softly, "you're awake. How do you feel?"

"Finn… what are you doing?"

She tried to lean forward, but found herself too weakened by hypothermia to do so. The princess, though, was able to tell that he was handling her wounded leg, if only because it throbbed painfully in his hands.

"Ahh! Get away!", she yelled and tried to struggle against him, "*I told you not to touch me!"

"Stop this right now."

His voice came stern and strong, pulled her eyes to his. He seemed possessed of an iron will at this moment, unwilling to accommodate any more of her efforts to thwart him. The feeling in her heart, seeing those eyes and feeling that force of will, was outright alien. She herself had to use those tools more than once in her life, because she was a princess, a ruler of many people. Sometimes you had to show the power behind the crown, and that was a fact of life. Having that power used against her… that was unusual indeed.

"Hold still, princess. This will only hurt a little bit."

She didn't speak again for time, though she wanted to, nor did she move. All she did was close her eyes, and wince as she felt him touch her injury. There was a noticeable burning, and a sensation of heat, and after seeing how viciously this Finn handled life, she feared what she was feeling was the touch of his flaming sword. He must be cauterizing my injury, she thought. How barbaric, what a horrible thing to do. She bit her lip because of the thought, and in remembrance of his other brutish activities… and then, she opened her eyes, and noticed that there was no pain. Gathering up her strength, Princess Bubblegum lifted her head and looked down at her leg. It had been neatly wrapped in bandages, top to bottom, containing the injury; the bandage was crude, but subtly whispered of an expertise only available on the battlefield. The burning… it must have been medicine.

"There," Finn began, a small, proud smile on his face, "how's that feel?"

She didn't answer him, simply letting her head fall back to the bed. She was still freezing cold, and was starting to get a splitting headache. This was easily the worst two days of her life. Well, maybe only the second worst, but still pretty bad.

"You don't have to say anything," he continued, shifting the blanket around to pull her freshly bandaged leg under the covers. His gentleness with her leg made Bubblegum sigh in disbelief. "It'll heal fine. But… you're still really cold."

"I know that… I'm hypothermic," she whimpered while rolling over to her side.

He sat on the bed and looked at her; he bit his lip thinking about how cold she must feel. He hated the feeling himself; it made it seem like his body had become winter's private sanctum, and that he'd never know the gentle warmth of the sun again. And he knew he needed to remedy that suffering, just as he remedied her injury. As the princess lay in her cotton cocoon, Finn set about disrobing. He was deliberately slow in this endeavor, letting his mind wander over everything. It didn't take him long to think back about the night before. Not what he said this time, but what he did. How did it come to that, he asked himself? Never once did he think that sort of behavior was in him… even when he was down to his underwear, Finn just sat on the bed's edge and stared at the floor. Feeling a shudder through the mattress he sat on, Finn's attention returned to the real world. All he could think of… it was her. Right here. Without a word, Finn pulled loose the swaddling around Bubblegum's back. She panicked at first, screamed quietly in shock when she felt his hand touch her back.

"Bubblegum… it's okay."

Her eyes were open as wide as could be as wove his hands around her body, her voice shuddered when he pulled her against his chest, and after a moment of rigidness, she sighed tiredly as heat radiated from his nearly naked body and filled her freezing, wearied frame. Despite everything, for the first time since the world ended, Princess Bubblegum felt an iota of peace, wrapped in the warmth of this Finn who wasn't Finn. Sleep finally came easy.

"It's okay," Finn whispered to her, not drifting off as quickly as she, not noticing she wasn't awake to listen to him, "no one is going to hurt you anymore. No one."

His last thoughts dwelled on what she said up in the aerie. Find Finn and Jake… he would.


	4. Flash in the Dark

**Flash in the Dark**

* * *

_In the Mountains to the West_

The noontime sun blazed overhead, golden light seeming pleasant enough, until one finds themselves completely lacking cover from it, sucking in increasingly thin air as altitude becomes a factor. Finn and Jake were in such a position, and while this exercise seemed great fun a mere two hours ago, it was becoming quite taxing, more than a little boring, and unpleasantly hot. Finn chose to ignore the heat and tedium, and Jake did not. Of course, he was getting nothing out of alpinism now that the novelty had since worn off; to the desensitized mind, a mountain is little more than a glorified pile of rocks. Impatient minds desensitize easily, of course.

"Finn, can we turn back yet? This is dumb."

"What?"

Finn, more engrossed than his counterpart, turned to look back at him, clinging to a rock face with a single hand while his feet trembled on unstable stones. His skin was a touch red and his breathing quick, but he didn't seem at all phased by the mountain's daunting dimensions. To him, this was the essence of adventure: doing something new, pushing through the tedium, and finding the diamond in the rough. He believed, even now, there was a diamond in this big, pointy pile of rough.

"Jake, turning back would be dumb," he began, "that's a dumb idea."

"Hey now, I don't want an attitude."

"And I don't wanna' turn back yet. There's gonna' be something good up on this cliff, you'll see. Probably an ugly troll or something."

Jake stretched up to the boulder Finn clambered across, grabbing him by the arms and tugging him up so they both stood on that large chunk of granite. Though Jake disagreed, believing still quite resolutely that mountains sucked for adventures, he did have to take a certain amount of joy in Finn's tenacious exuberance. Together, they turned and looked out across the Land of Ooo, all seeming so removed now that they were half way up a craggy old peak. Finn sighed and turned back to the mountain, setting back to the climb, but Jake didn't immediately follow.

"Hey man, what if there isn't a troll or nothin' up there?"

"Well, we have to go see anyway, Jake."

"Yeah, no, not really," Jake pressed as he turned to watch Finn's ascent, "I mean, mountain trolls don't really bother anything. Even it was there, so what? Also, if there's nothin', that's also not bothering anybody."

"And if there is, I wanna' know."

"… This is dumb."

And to that, Jake stretched up again, meeting Finn atop another clutch of rocks with as little effort as could be imagined; flying would demand more energy and attention of the dog, which made this whole ordeal all the more unnecessary, and certainly foolish. He wondered quietly what he could be doing differently. Spending time with Lady. Eating ice cream. Meditating for five minute periods at a time, in between ice cream.

"I'd rather be eating ice cream."

"Yeah Jake," Finn muttered, "you said that like an hour ago."

Hours passed in this way, and Finn had finally triumphed over the peak, in so far as he sat quietly and more than a little tired. Exhausted might be the better word. Sitting on the ledge, dangling his legs over what was probably a good fifty drop onto a rocky slope covered in slag that slid downward another thousand feet, he looked again at the Land of Ooo, nothing seemed to much farther away than when he stood on that boulder before, everything just looked a touch smaller. Out to the east, the Candy Kingdom. A little beyond that, their house, nothing more than a tiny dot lost in the greenery. Further, the Ice Kingdom. Finn looked south, wondering briefly if he could see Flame Princess's house from here. It didn't seem to be the case; the orange light of the sunset behind him had painted the whole region the same hue as Flame Princess's fires. Not that it mattered, probably; stony hills obscured everything in that direction. Looking at the light of the sunset made Finn feel a little warm, which was good, given that in the shadow of the mountain, everything was getting colder. He rubbed his arms for a moment to make himself feel warmer still before standing and walking across the narrow cliff side, a path of naturally carved stone that partially circled the peak. After a while, Finn came across Jake, lying quite passively on the stone ground and snoozing soundly.

"Yo man, wake up."

"Hunh… no."

"Jake, nap time's over. We gotta' go down into the valley."

"Mmm, fine," Jake whimpered as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "yeesh, I feel like I fell asleep on a rock."

Finn was about to respond with a snarky comment about the mountain when he saw a rather pointy looking stone protruding from Jake's side as he stood up. It quivered as he stretched and yawned, springing loose with a quiet pop and bouncing down the northern face of the mountain. Finn peered over the side, watching the fist-sized stone disappear from view.

"Dude, nice distance."

Jake chuckled briefly as he walked to the farthest edge of the cliff, exposing the western face of the mountain, a valley with just a little bit of sunlight left to it. A modest pine glade decorated the shallow space between this and the next mountain, an ample place for camp if ever there was one. Jake had given up long ago on convincing Finn that they should just turn around, and in deciding that was more or less dedicated to seeing this adventure through to the best of all possible endings.

"Aight, hop on Finn."

They descended together, Finn atop Jake and Jake treading lightly down the crags that separated the upper slopes from the lightly forested space below. Once or twice during the descent, Finn turned to look back at the slope behind him; was it his imagination, or did he hear something moving? He could have even sworn to have seen a boulder shift about, and something that looked like a ruby disappear from view no sooner than half a second after he spotted it. His instincts were that it wasn't nothing, but he also knew he couldn't see anything dangerous when he looked. Even when he and Jake were safely in the valley, a rather shadowy and cool space, and Finn had begun to busy himself with gathering kindling, he took time to spy up the mountainside, hoping to glimpse whatever may be there. He never abandoned the idea of a mountain troll, even if there wasn't one there. But a fire wouldn't build itself. He turned away for now, casting only one last glance at the mountain before indulging in starting a camp fire; he didn't notice the eerie, leering eye that watched him spark the kindling and lie down next to the newly created blaze. Finn sighed as he rested his aching body on the compact mountain soil, resting his head in his arms and looking through the increasingly bold flames as they danced in the air. It made him smile to see them, reminding him all too naturally of his lady. A sound caught his attention, though it wasn't like the spooky sound of rocks shifting like the mountain had offered before. No, it was a bit more nasal in nature, and it came and went in time with Jake's breathing; Finn watched his friend sleeping for a moment, listening to the snores that issued from his nostrils. Seriously, the dude can sleep like that anywhere. The boy, though, lied back down, finding he was equally exhausted.

It seemed immediate; he closed his eyes, and the world was obliterated, replaced with inky blackness perforated with deep hues of purple and orange. They spun slowly, like eddies in a river, blots of color swimming in a pool of night. It was like she was dancing… deep down, Finn knew he was dreaming of Flame Princess. Or maybe it was a matter of wanting it that made it so the indistinct swirls of pigment came together in a slender but vivacious ensemble of vaguely humanoid features. He could almost see it, painted into the midnight in his eyes, the shape of her body, starting with her vivid hair and ending with her delicate feet. She spun slowly at first, but soon began to rotate faster, though only slightly so. She became circled by a rounded crescent painted blue, and as it drifted near, she indeed danced around faster. The blue shape moved to keep up, only managing that feat in time for Flame Princess to speed up some more. Her hair grew into a dazzling swirl, and Finn felt a strange compulsion to follow that vision. It spun higher and higher into the night sky, until it was surrounded by the stars, and the bright orange flames, now quite distinctly flames, spread into the heavens, filling out a peculiar shape. The mass of orange light, starting off rather like a blob, began to fill in, taking shape like a large, rounded out cone, heavy on top and narrow at the bottom. It became more and more golden, and Finn couldn't quite understand at first. The golden mass stretched out two great arms from itself. No… no, they aren't arms. When the creature opened two blazing white eyes, it became obvious they were wings. The wings of…

"Hey, wake up and feed the fire."

"Huh? Who's…", Finn muttered as he stirred from his sleep. Waking up from a dead dream state like was hard on him, and he peered about the camp site in search of the intruding whisper. He thought at it first it must be Jake, but glancing over revealed that he was still asleep. Must have been the dream, he thought as he tossed some more wood on the fire, which looked to be in its last few moments.

"Thanks," it said quietly.

"You're welc-. Wait, what?"

The camp fire, reinvigorated by the addition of kindling and branches, grew bold and strong, and it giggled once or twice as it did so. Then, hidden in the licking tongues of the blaze, Finn saw a set of eyes and a grinning mouth.

"Hi Finn."

"Heh, hey," he said as he leaned forward and rested on his elbows, "Flame Princess. You can talk through fires now? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah," she said with a flutter, "just thought I'd try it and see if I could find you."

He smiled a bit and blushed slightly in the dark, though the light of the fire hid that from her as much as its heat masked that of his blood. Finn simply stared tiredly at the flames as they jostled with passing breezes, and Flame Princess in turn watched him through this mystic link to her home plane. After a moment or two, she decided that silence was boring.

"So, like, where are you? I tried to visit you through your candles and stuff, but they weren't lit."

"Oh, we're," Finn began as he looked around him. He looked up at the sky, hoping to see the moon or the stars, but it looked as though clouds had moved in while he slept. "We're in the mountains. I don't know where, it's too dark."

"That sounds like you. You having fun?"

"I guess so. I was hoping I'd fight something by now, but it's been like a whole day and there isn't anything up here."

"Hmm," she responded quietly, perhaps mulling over her own interest in slaying monsters, "maybe there just aren't any monsters or whatever up there anymore. You should totally come visit me instead. We can have fun like on your birthday."

Finn's face burned bright as she snickered, sounding so much like a crackling flame that there seemed no difference. At first it was merely shocking that she mentioned that, but then it sank in that Jake was mere feet away, could very well be hearing this conversation, and totally judge him for it.

"That, umm…", he muttered.

"What?"

"That sounds…"

"… You didn't have fun?"

And now the heat was gone. In fact, his blood felt frozen as he just stared into her eyes, which just stared back at him with a quiet questioning look tinged with a faint hue of disbelief. She honestly didn't think he was put off by what had happened, didn't think it was anything besides good. Heck, she liked it, why wouldn't he? Finn, on the other hand, was having trouble not with determining if he wanted it, but if he should.

"Flame Princess, the other night was totes fun. I'm just…"

"Just what?", she said as cooly as possible as her lips curled ever so slightly into a frown, and her eyes took on a frustrated edge.

"I'm just…", and then he paused, took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh.

"Finn… what's on your mind?"

"I feel weird lately. Like something's totally messed up."

"So, what, you're running around in the wilderness 'cause you feel weird?"

"No. And, and yes. It started the other day in the Candy Kingdom."

"The Candy Kingdom," she seemed interested, though also somewhat skeptical, and a touch accusatory. "Visiting Princess Bubblegum?"

"Yeah, she invited me and Jake and we went to see her," he explained, not wanting to acknowledge her tone, "she had this big ugly mirror, and it showed me, but I was all dark and messed up looking."

"Princess Bubblegum invited you to see a mirror?"

"Yes."

"And that's making you feel weird?"

"No," he practically barked, "there's more."

There was a faint flash overhead, and seconds later a peel of thunder echoed down through the mountains. It startled Finn to the point of jumping, as he'd become quite engrossed in his conversation.

"Just thunder, dummy," she said with a chuckle, his start having lightened her mood, "go on."

"O-okay. And this morning, when I woke up, I felt crazy sick. Like," he whispered now, "it felt like I was dying. That kind of sick. But it went away."

She stared at him as he waited for her to respond; after what seemed an eternity, he had to wonder what was wrong.

"Flame Princess?"

"Like you were freezing all the way down through your body."

"Yeah," he said, "wait… how did you know that?"

"… It's probably nothing. I didn't feel good earlier this afternoon. Kinda' like that, is all."

"… Flame Princess.

"Finn?"

"I think I had a dream about you, and," he whispered, blushing again, "you looked beautiful, you know?"

Another flash of lightning and its percussive accompaniment, though this time much louder and closer. Jake yelped as he was viciously jarred from his sleep. Even Flame Princess seemed rattled by its volume, and the camp fire shuddered in reverberation as she temporarily lost control of the messaging spell. After a moment, when everyone was sure no more lightning was coming, Jake lied back down and rolled over, and Finn turned his attention back to Flame Princess.

"You think so?"

"Think what now?"

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"Y-you," he swallowed hard, remembering he said that without thinking, "yeah. I do."

The flames grew hotter against his face, and the camp fire burned quite bright for a good ten seconds, causing Finn to lean away from the blaze and watch pensively from the corner of his eye. When at last it died down, he caught a glimpse of Flame Princess's wildly smiling face. That made him smile too.

"You dork," she whispered to him.

"Heh, whatever."

"Finn," she said as the fire swirled a bit in the wind. Neither noticed at first, but the wind did seem to be picking up.

"Yeah, FP?"

"Mm hm hm," she smiled and bit her lip, "I love you. Be safe, kay?"

"Yeah. I… love you too."

"Okay. Stay out of the storm's way."

"The storm…?"

A third, even more vicious flash and sound of thunder, loud enough that the whole world seemed it would hear it, echoed and crashed through the valley. The white light of the storm's electric fury flooded Finn's vision for a moment, leaving him disoriented for several seconds, and the blast of sound not only stunned him, but woke Jake from his slumber once more. The wind picked up to a mean howling gale, and one by one droplets of cold water worked their way down from the sky. Jake grumbled as discontent welled up in him until it burst the banks and become outright frustrated anger.

"Aww, this is just great. What an idea, camping in the mountains with a storm on the way!"

"Shut up dude," Finn snapped back, just as tired and flustered and Jake, "we gotta' get out of this storm!"

They stomped away from their makeshift camp into the storm as the fire withered and went out in the wind and rain. Finn glanced back at it as it did so, and sighed to himself as he thought of that moment that had so easily come and gone. In the mean time, though, he would have to busy himself with helping Jake find some semblance of shelter in this suddenly inhospitable weather. Thunder peeled down the mountain side again and again, though never so fiercely as when they were just relaxing, it seemed. At first, they followed the valley floor up hill a little, hoping the gentle slope up from where the water was pooling might yield some safe harbor. When all they found was a great wall of broken rocks stacking up a forty degree slope, they both grumbled quite miserably in the pitch black of the stormy night. Then, a curious thing happened, which at first neither Finn nor Jake could explain. It sounded like thunder, crackling and echoing from up the hillside covered in slag. But there was a distinct lack of lightning before the thunderous noise, which was impossible. There it was again, a great, terrible noise. Though this time it sounded more like the splitting of stone than of the heavens. Turning back to look up the rocky slope, Finn and Jake happened to glance up just in time to see a strange thing standing idly on the sliding rocks as a flash illuminated the valley. There, up on the slick, rain covered rocks, was what looked like some sort of hideous, alien spider. Its body, though impossible to make out plainly in the darkness, was quite distinctly rounded like a river rock, and its hide looked gravelly and hard, not unlike the mountain. More obvious than that were the eight legs the creature was sporting, long as Finn was tall, each ending in a mean point. And protruding from what could only be be the back of the creature was some sort of strange looking tail ending in a big, scarlet eye. Finn's eyes opened wide, and his mouth followed suit.

"I knew it! I knew something was following us!"

"Dude, what is that?!"

"Whatever it is, it's going dow- oh nuts!"

As if hearing words exchanged were intolerable, with the next day breaking bolt of lightning, it visibly opened its great wide mouth, a gap which encompassed the whole front of its huge, round, disc-like body. It revealed long, pointy teeth, hissed, then cracked its fore legs against the earth on which it balanced, so that the valley erupted with two thunderous sounds and filled up quickly with a menacing rock slide originating from the monster's activities. Finn and Jake bolted opposite from the avalanche, and would likely have been heinously crushed had Jake not sprung away from the oncoming swarm of boulders with Finn on his shoulders. They landed on the other side of the narrow width of the valley, where the second peak began, not thinking of the danger posed by the slippery rocks until they had both fallen to the ground and tumbled a bit. They found themselves on top of the displaced stone left over by the avalanche, and Finn lifted his head at the sound of a large, skittering beast as it scurried toward them, bounding over the loose rubble like it was an open field. He sprung to his feet and reached for his sword, pulling the great, blood red blade from his back and springing forward. The rubble, though, was not as supportive to him. A loose rock caused Finn to twist his ankle and fall to the ground, and his shoulder took the brunt of the fall. The monster opened its hissing maw again and closed in, eager to bite off the head of its closest victim. Snicker-snap, that's all it would take; but as it lunged forward with cruel hunger on its mind, there came a disturbance.

"Get outta' here!"

The creature felt itself lifted up from the earth from the spot where its legs met its body, and for a brief time the extremely novel sensation of being held aloft caught its attention. But with a strong jerk, Jake, whose outstretched arms held the monster, flung it up over he and Finn, sending it some distance down hill. It landed in the rubble behind them, making a great cacophony as it scattered small rocks and hissed in its fury at being catapulted away. Wrapping one snaking arm around Finn's waist as he slowly climbed to his feet, Jake started climbing up the slag pile away from where the beast still struggled to get itself upright. Finn groaned and looked back at the direction the creature's noises came from, and then up the hill as lightning lit up the landscape.

"Jake, high ground!"

"Dude, what about the lightning?"

"You wanna' get ate instead?! High ground!"

"Alright bro, if you know what you're doing!"

Jake clambered over the loose stone, doubling his pace when he heard the pebble-skinned monster bellow and start after him; the very sound of its legs scraping across the wet rock sent a chill up his spine, and transmuting his legs into a series of grappling claws seemed the first thing he should do, the second being getting the Glob up the hill. The going felt painfully slow as rain and wind drove against both parties, almost feeling like the weather was pushing Finn and Jake down the monster's throat. Once they'd climbed some fifty feet, Finn raised his voice.

"Jake, stop here!"

"What?!", Jake said as he halted, though only in shock, "That thing's still behind us!"

"No, it fell down, we have the lead, and I have an idea! Jake, stretch out your hands into the cracks in the rocks, and when I say now, make them grow huge!" Finn looked back down as the monster started up the rock face again, hissing cruelly and loudly. Finn took the moment to lift up a large stone over his head. "Make your hands fit under as many rocks as you can!"

"Okay!"

As Jake spread his hands through the rocks directly in front of them, stretching his flesh as far as he could through the tough ground, Finn watched and waited. Sound was drowned out by the harsh weather, the endless noise of rain splashing down on the mountain and the howl of the gale dominating the air. And with another flash, he saw the monster, not ten feet away; he hurled the stone he held over head directly at the creature's toothy mouth, smashing the gaping space with it.

"Now Jake!"

And Jake, with a grumbling effort, pushed all of his strength into expanding his hand, forced into the spaces under the rocks. The monster growled vigorously as it was struck with the thrown boulder, but nothing compared to the sound of the rock face being pushed apart as a cascade of gravel, mud, and heavy rocks was knocked from its place. Just as the crab-like creature had tried to trap them in a rock slide before, Finn and Jake managed to do the same to it. The avalanche took the beast off guard, as it was terribly distracted by teeth falling out of its mouth, so when the two met, all it could manage to do was hiss in surprise as the land carried the monster away with it, back down the mountain, back down to the rubble below, burying it beneath even more. After the rock slide had settled, Finn and Jake waited quietly for a moment, for a flash in the dark to show the creature had been subdued. When at last their eyes met the sight of the slag below, with neither movement nor noise, the heroes smiled, laughed jovially, and congratulated each other.

"Woo, Finn, that was awesome!"

"Ha, dude, I'm all about the awesome!"

As they readied their high fives, a peel of thunder as loud as those previously jarred them both, breaking up the good mood like sand in the water. Maybe high fives could wait until shelter was found…

* * *

A crash disturbed the night air, and in turn Princess Bubblegum's sleep. She shot up from her resting place with a sharp gasp and a dizzy spell strong enough to cause her to shudder and fall to her side. She took to resting on her elbows a moment or two, breathing hard and sweating as her eyes scanned the pitch black room. Her windows lit up with lightning, and the thunder followed seconds later. Between that, and the sound of the rain splashing on the roof above, Bubblegum was able to comfort herself in the knowledge that she wasn't woken up by anything more dreadful than an errant thunderbolt. The fear faded, the dizziness passed, and Bubblegum pushed herself up off her bed; she sat calmly and surveyed the room, and not seeing anything in the blackness, reached to her bedside table. She couldn't reach it, having not been sleeping in her favorite spot, but in a more convenient position for, say, being rushed to bed rest. Throwing off her blanket, the princess crawled across the bed until she found the table. She reached to its surface, running her fingers delicately across the polished wood until she found the magic candle. She uncapped it, and the stick's ever burning flame lit up the room with a soft orange light. Ignoring the occasional discharge of lightning, the room looked more or less the same. But she knew it should be.

"Put out the light…"

"Finn? Where are you?"

"I'm here," he whispered, sitting in a large chair facing the huge hole in the wall. The rain fell against the tarp that closed it up, causing it to ripple wildly, "put out the light, princess."

A moment of skeptical analysis, Princess Bubblegum raised an eyebrow at this strange behavior. He was so quiet, despite the fact she was already awake. Was he trying to sleep? No, if he were, he would probably be cuddling annoyingly close, or something along those lines. At any rate, she decided to just let him have his way; she capped the candle and sat in the dark, eyes fixed on the chair all the while. She watched carefully, and when a flash of lightning lit up the room, she spied Finn leaning forward, and she saw he had his sword resting on his legs. Once the thunder passed, she heard him lean back into the comfort of his seat.

"Finn," she spoke low and calm, "what are you up to?"

"… You should go back to sleep."

"Not until you explain yourself."

Silence. She had wanted to regain some of that royal bravado, take back her throne, so to speak. The only way to do that was to remain confident, to assert, to take, but without being brutish. She wanted her respect back. Finn sat in the dark, watching the hole in the wall with what she imagined could only be terrible intent.

"Finn!"

"… They like storms."

"What? Who's they?"

"Ghouls. The Lich's ghouls. They like thunderstorms," Finn said quietly, almost muttering, "they like the rain. The rain keeps the fire kingdom's soldiers indoors, out of the picture. The thunder makes them really hard to hear. And ghouls can see in the dark. I can't."

"… The Lich? You said the Lich?"

"Shh… you should go back to sleep."

As the storm bellowed out its fury once more, Finn leaned forward in his chair and listened with all his might. He was determined, it seems, to make sure no flesh-eating undead would sneak up on him, or his princess. That feeling, that abject dread… Bubblegum didn't like seeing it in him. It was unclear why, maybe it was that fear makes people dangerous. … No. There's more to it than that. She stood up from the bed and slowly made her way to the large chair.

"Finn," she said calmly, leaning against the chair, making herself as noticeable as possible, "that's not something we have to worry about. It's just a storm here."

"Princess, I have to make sure."

"Finn."

She reached out and touched his face, her palm gently cradling his cheek. For her, it was a cold, pseudo-human attempt to keep him calm. To him, it meant worlds, so much so that Finn almost let his weapon fall to the floor. As she held her hand to his face, she felt the rough skin of his palm over her knuckles. She didn't draw back though.

"Princess, I… I know I didn't ask before, but…"

"Yes Finn," she said with nothing but fatigue to her voice, "what is it?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

* * *

The mountain had yielded at last; in the wild rain and wind, Finn and Jake stumbled about nearly blind in search of some reprieve, and after two hours of bitter work, they were rewarded. A cave, it seemed, set in the side of the peak they found themselves trapped on, offered up the shelter they both desperately wanted. The pitch black of the entrance looked utterly oppressive, even by the standards set by the storm at midnight. But to stand out in the rain was just an intolerable option. They had to go inside, no matter what lay in wait, and once so housed, the boys sat on the cold stone floor and sighed in disbelief, Finn more so than Jake. This adventure… this one was not so good.

"Finn," Jake sighed in exasperation, "this donks."

"You think I don't know that…"

His voice was low, and perforated with a grumble. He was miserable, and he had no one to blame for it but himself. That's a nasty thorn in the side to work with, especially after that surprise attack from the monster. So Jake's commentary, naturally, was no ointment for it.

"Hey man, I know you're mad, but you need to back off."

"… Yeah," Finn replied, though he didn't really mean to let his frustration go just yet. He took off his shoes and dropped them to the cave floor. Next he peeled off his socks, wringing them out and draping them over his soggy shoes. Piece by piece, Finn disrobed and squeezed the water from his soaked clothes. "Yeah. This just donks."

After a while of fuming in the dark, Finn decided he'd had enough. He took to his bag, searching for anything that might serve as firewood, or kindling, or anything. Everything, though, was soaked through. Even if he had even a scrap of wood in this satchel, it would be utterly useless. He tossed the bag down in frustration, but stopped and looked back down when he heard a faint rattle on the floor. Remembering what it was, Finn scrabbled around for a moment until his fingers found it; a small, plastic tube, no longer than a few inches. With a flick of his wrists, he cracked the tube, and a faint green light issued forth.

"Dude, nice," Jake said with mild mirth, shaking himself dry from head to tail, "you remembered your glow sticks."

"Yeah," Finn muttered, looking around him, taking in the sight of the cave. The walls and ceiling had the tell tale signs of worked stone, and wooden cross beams held the slightly squared tunnel intact. "Is this a mine?"

"Uhm, yeah, I guess so."

"So, maybe if I look around, we'll find some wood and stuff."

"Alright man, but put your pants back on. I'm not walking around with you looking like that."

Finn, for the first time all day, chuckled lightly. Once garbed, he and Jake walked down the tunnel, footsteps echoing deeper into the darkness; the going was silent but for their feet, which was remarkably unsettling for Jake, who felt almost a compulsion to speak.

"So, how's Flame Princess doin'?"

"She's fine. … Oh, wait!"

"Heh heh…"

"You were awake? You donkus," Finn laughed as he pushed Jake by the shoulder, "you could've said that."

"But then you wouldn't have said all that good stuff, man."

"I guess."

Though imperceptible in the gloom, Finn blushed in quiet recollection. They walked and mused together like this for a while until a shape emerged from the darkness, illuminated by the faint light of glow stick. A small pile of crates and an old miner's kit, still complete with a set of bones that once belonged to the miner.

"Oh cool, fire wood," Finn said quietly, tearing at the planks that made up the crates.

"And a corpse," Jake said a little louder, poking the skull of the pile of bones until it fell to the floor with a dull rattle that seemed to echo into eternity, "yeesh, he didn't die happy."

"How can you tell?"

Jake neglected to answer, instead looking directly at the pick ax lodged in the skeleton's rib cage. Yeah, probably the cause of death. Just the same, Finn reached down and pulled the tools off the miner's corpse, as he wouldn't be using it anymore, even if his bones were cursed with undeath. For safety, he plucked the helmet off the skull and plopped it on his head. For safety, and he thought it would cool.

"Alright, let's go back and start a fire."

"Okay, but I'm totally jealous of your helmet," Jake commented, "we gotta' find me one, okay?"

* * *

_The Candy Kingdom, Unknown Location_

Peppermint Butler sat alone in the dark, surrounded by candles whose wax came in various hues, all of them dark and fairly unpleasant to look upon. The incense sealed within the melting wax was itself a bit caustic and sour, making the scent of the room equally unpleasant. He didn't seem to notice; it was either necessary, or unimportant. More importantly than that he was center stage was the fact that Peppermint Butler sat in the center of a circle drawn into the floor, bleak looking runes etched in sequence within its circumference. He hummed passively, ignoring the scent of the candles, ignoring the storm outside, focusing all his energy on the storm within. He had to know; that's what all this was for. The need to know the truth.

"Into the darkness, I reach. I beseech. Come forth."

He stood and turned around, staring into the darkness behind him. The candles' glow revealed P. Butler was in fact not alone in this room of conjuration; bound to a chair with heavy chains was the unconscious form of a candy citizen. Closer examination revealed it was a she, and further than that showed that she was Lollipop Girl. She snoozed quietly, forced into sleep by a potion of Peppermint Butler's own making so that she wouldn't resist. He had no plans to harm her, but no one willing person would sit still for what was about to happen.

"Do you hear me, denizen of darkness? I call to you!"

The storm outside seemed to stop; rather, it was that noise in the room was altogether dampened, and the storm, despite retaining its bluster, was rendered inaudible by dire magic of the dreadful sort. One by one, the candles snuffed themselves, embers holding fast to their wicks and stinking smoke curling up in place of the tiny flames.

"Take this innocent vessel as your own, and answer me these questions three!"

The candles began to go out faster and faster, until they were all gone, and only the dimmest sparks remained. Until, in the darkness, a pair of cruel, deep red lights awoke. They gazed directly at Peppermint Butler, and we use gazed here because we know that those lights are the eyes of a darkling called to the world of mortals.

"Now, you will answer to me," Peppermint Butler uttered calmly, "beautiful watcher in the darkness, seductress of the Nightosphere, Beelzebabe!"

"Hm hm hm… hello, Peppermint Butler," she muttered faintly. The candles all came to life in one smooth hiss, filling the room with a blood red glow, revealing Lollipop Girl, though through the most subtle of changes, one could tell she wasn't quite herself now. That, and the voice was that of a sultry fiendish woman. "Now, why don't you ask if I should care what you say?"

"I don't have time for your trickery, tempting one! I have questions that need answers."

"Very well," she said with a seductive sigh, "if that's what you want, instead of fun. Ask your first question."

"My first question is as follows," he said with a voice of command, "what is the present location of Finn and Jake, the adventurers of Ooo?"

"Oh, those two," she sighed again, "wouldn't you rather ask me to party with you again?"

"Answer the question, Beelzebabe."

"Bah, no fun at all. Let's see now…", she pondered quietly a moment, shifting her head too and fro before answering, "they're at the Blackstone Mines."

"The Blackstone Min-?", he asked, or at least almost asked. He caught himself before the question was finished, having to bite his tongue when he saw the coy smile on the trapped demon's face.

"Aww, did I give myself away? Almost wasted a question… oh Peppermint, you're so smart. Why are you working for that petty victim Bubblegum instead of me? She can't even protect herself…"

"What do you- humph, no, that's not my second question either," he sneered back at her. Demons are always trying to do that sort of nonsense, but Peppermint Butler was in a no nonsense mood this evening.

"Hm hm. Proceed."

"Now," he said quietly as he walked towards his captive, "tell me, Beelzebabe. Who is the man in black?"

She was quiet, bit her lip and generally did everything in her power to not look at her captor. He stepped closer, with a look as stern as a lion in a murdering mood. She sighed once more, looked to the floor, then back at him.

"The man in black… his name is…"

"Yes?"

She smiled and looked at him venomously, "His name is Finn. And what a waste…"

Peppermint Butler narrowed his eyes, then gasped in shock; he didn't even think when he put that most subtle of upward inflections to his sentence. But then the name she gave him sank in, and he gasped again.

"Finn? His name is Finn?"

"I'm not required to answer anymore questions, Peppermint, you know that," she hissed meanly, smiling in total self-glory, "that is, unless you have something more for me…"

"Maybe I do. If I give you more, you must answer my questions though."

"Mm… you can have one more question, because I don't know what it is."

"Two more, because what I have might be a soul stone."

"You lie," the demon barked back in disbelief, "where on earth did you get one?"

"That's not your business. And I assume we have a deal…"

"Mmm, yes we do," she chuckled as she bit her lip, "now, go ahead."

"Very good. Now, explain very plainly, but be specific. You said that the man in black was Finn. What do you mean by that?"

"Excellent question," she said with dark grin, "what I meant is what I said. That brutal, skull-wearing warrior is Finn the human. But it's not the Finn you, or Princess Bubblegum know. That Finn, up in the castle right now, lying next to your beloved princess as we speak, holding her ever so tenderly as she cries and cries," Beelzebabe taunted him cruelly, "came right through to this world through a magic mirror."

"… The Smoking Mirror. It was a door."

"Usually it's just a window. But under the right circumstances, if a soul is strong enough, it can break the boundaries of the universe, and turn a window into an emergency exit. Now pay close attention, because I won't repeat myself. The Smoking Mirror is a cursed object, an artifact left on the world of man by old, evil gods. That's why people have been burying it in their petty little vaults for the past ten thousand years."

Peppermint Butler turned away from his captive, lost in deep, dark thoughts. The mirror… that was the reason behind all of this. He felt directly responsible, in so many ways. But nothing haunted him more than the thought that he was right; he knew there was a darkness in that dreadful mirror. And he knew he felt the darkness of another world in that boy.

"So," she whispered to him, her tone dripping with a taunting inflection, "what's the last question to be? You could ask how to destroy the mirror… or, you know, you could ask what he did to her…"

He turned back and stared her down, though being a high ranking succubus, she was far from intimidated. The knee jerk reaction was to ask the second… but the former was so tantalizing as well.

"But, I won't answer your question," she added as he thought to himself, "until you give me what's owed."

Peppermint Butler never welched. That's why she agreed to the extra questions in the first place. And she wasn't disappointed, at least not too terribly, when he fished out of his pocket a tiny bead of crystal aglow with unstable, pure life force. It was tiny as far as soul stones went; more a of soul pebble, really. But, it qualify. He tossed the stone to Beelzebabe, who lashed out at it with a long, reptilian tongue and sucked it into her mouth. She munched happily upon it as if it were a piece of candy.

"Now," Peppermint Butler said grimly, having had to make a very, very difficult choice, "tell me how to destroy the Smoking Mirror."


	5. The Devil's Asylum

**The Devil's Asylum**

* * *

_The Candy Kingdom, Early Morning_

Outrageous. That was the one word that could some up all of this dastardly and absurd affair. Outrageous. That was the one word that Peppermint Butler ran through his mind again and again and once more for good measure. The circumstances weren't just out of hand, they were patently beyond reclamation. As he pushed the cart bearing the princess's breakfast silently to her room, he fumed incessantly about the whole matter. An intruder, in the castle. An intruder, and nothing he could do about it. And the princess… she knew. She knew for over a day, and didn't tell him, or anybody. He rounded corners effortlessly, but keeping his foul mood in check was not so easily managed. The cart did glide so light across the floor, but he felt the weight of everything he knew now in his small body. And as he slowed to a stop outside the princess's room, he took to staring at the door. Staring, and reflecting on the bleak revelations of last night.

_"Oh, so you don't want to know about what happened to your precious princess?"_

_"… Tell me…"_

_"It's really quite horrible…"_

_"I'll find a way to deal with that. Tell me about the mirror, demon!"_

_"Hmph, have it your way. Now, about that mirror… it's indestructible."_

He remembered the exact feeling that those words filled him with; to put it mildly, the river of disgust that coursed through him would easily wash away the deepest foundations of the Nightosphere. How cheated he felt, how murderous he wanted to be… but the captive fiend interrupted his thoughts.

_"Feeling upset? Wishing you had asked about Bonnibel? Hmm hm hm, good. Mmmm… I love your disappointment."_

_"You sick bag of underworld waste…"_

_"Aww, how rude. I'm not done, anyway. Listen closely."_

Peppermint Butler approached his lady's door, just as in his mind he recalled approaching the demon as she sat bound and villainously determined. She beckoned him closer and closer, so close that when Beelzebabe lashed out him, pulling viciously at the chains and hissing with dread fury, Peppermint Butler nearly found himself in her deadly embrace. He woke from his day dream because of the mere memory of that shock, the visceral rush of near-death still fresh, a scab in his memories to be picked at over and over. He reached out, fingers slowly curling into a fist, and knocked quietly.

_"Hmm hm, sorry sweetie, old habits. Anyway… the mirror is indestructible, unless you walk through it and break it from the other side."_

"… From the other side."

* * *

_Behind the Door_

She was the first to wake that day. In fact, she'd been awake for several hours now, seeing the second sunrise since it all fell down as it gently filtered between the half-closed curtains. But this time… she felt rested. Half of it surely must've been the switch from the floor to the bed, yet there was another factor that had remained unchanged. Much like the night before, Bubblegum woke up in the arms of her would-be captor. Last night, during the storm, he'd asked her for this, to hold her and fall asleep. She wasn't pleased with the idea, especially once he started burying his face into her chest and breathing in deep, sighing breaths. When he slipped into dream, Bubblegum herself sighed in relief, and that relief let her drift off without stress or pain. Besides restful sleep, Princess Bubblegum found dreams for the first time in what seemed forever. She dreamed of the world, the Land of Ooo sprawled out far beneath her, a stretching carpet of green dotted with copses of differing shades of viridian that must have been trees breaking up the grasslands. She felt as if she were a plastic bag caught up and swept away, pulled far and fast by the wind, filled with a sense of weightlessness combined with a total loss of direction. Bubblegum's dream ended abruptly as the wind faded, and instead of drifting gently back down to the earth, she felt the dread vertigo associated with the plummet one might expect a healthy young woman would make as weight was once more made real.

Finn dreamt of something all too different. It wasn't the same dark montage as the night before, but some might think it frightful just the same. He walked barefoot on a beach, beneath a sky that was painted grey, cloudless, stale and rude. The ceiling of the sky, a grim monolith of steel pigment, faded bit by bit to black as the dome of the atmosphere dipped to the horizon. The edge of the world, cloaked in night, lay at the farthest end of a rolling ocean of deep blue. Finn walked barefoot upon the beach, watching as the water roil and frothed and slammed itself on the sand. The waves flowed and ebbed without a sound, the wind blew through his hair much in the same way, not a whisper being caught in his ears. All he could hear was his breathing, and the sound of the cold, crystalline sand parting between his toes, crunching out under his heels. He strode effortlessly to a beached boat, and without knowing why he started pushing against the heavy wooden bow. It slid into the water...

Bubblegum woke with a quiet jolt, frozen through with feelings of nausea and numbness, the gravitational snag of slipping on ice being too similar to the sensation she just felt. She recalled, quite vividly, the dream of flying and falling; and she suspected what it meant. Finn woke more solemnly, stirring to the sight of his lady's bosom as it rose and fell. He smiled and nuzzled into her body, tightening his grip around her stomach. It was from her stomach that rebellion emerged.

"No!"

He jumped out of his skin, rolling away from her body and off the side of the bed. Bubblegum stared after him, angrily, venomously, as she leaned against the mattress, supporting her weight with a single arm. His eyes peered back at her's, and for a moment all he felt was surprise. Those eyes melted away, heated and boiled down by a bolt of anger. He stood up and stared at her.

"I don't understand you. I don't! I don't!", he said loudly, gritting his teeth and balling his fists, "Why do you do that? I don't get it!"

She gave a puzzled look, eyebrows peaked curiously. Did he mean her reaction? Finn was rarely able to specify, and this doppelgänger seemed no different in that regard. Yes, he must have meant her reaction.

"No. You don't get it. … And. No."

Words. The words were failing. She couldn't muster them when she needed them most. She knew what she wanted to say, but for all her genius, Bubblegum couldn't think of a reason why she couldn't say what was on her mind. … No. No, she knew the reason.

"I don't get it either."

She sat on the edge of the bed, and took to cradling her head in her hands. While she felt his eyes weren't angry anymore, she could still tell Finn was standing on the other side, staring at her, fists still clenched even. No matter what went through his head or hers. For now, he wanted to stand there on the other side.

"Finn," she began quietly, "go into my bathroom, and clean yourself up. When you're done, we're going to have a long talk about your life, okay?"

He stood like a wall, for a moment or two, eyes transfixed; perhaps it was just the simple words she used to admit that she didn't understand. And all she was doing was sitting there. It felt strange to see her look emotionless, and it made him want to do the same, just let the empty feeling of not knowing wash over him. So he did. Taking a few silent steps so that he stood beside her, Finn looked down, and watched Bubblegum as she sat still on her bed. She felt watched, and tilted her head up to look at him, meeting his cool, steely gaze. They regarded each other in this way for a moment, neither blinking nor speaking. And just as wordlessly as the moment began, it came to its end; Finn nodded in silent agreement, and walked with a peaceful stride to the bathroom. She waited, wanting to hear the sound of the water pan, and when she heard the sound of liquid striking the floor, she resumed leaning into her hands, and for that briefest of moments wished she could cry a little. But instead, she took a deep, sob-ridden breath. She gasped too, because her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Just a moment," she answered, coughing quietly to clear her throat as she stood and approached the door. Her fingers wrapped around the latch, and with a squeeze she pushed it open. "Peppermint Butler. Good morning."

"My lady," he said back with a stern gaze.

"Oh," she answered knowingly. "So you know then."

"I do. Now, your highness," he said with a bit of ice, "please tell me why he's here. In the Candy Kingdom. In your room. In this world at all!"

She shushed him and looked over her shoulder, fearing the raised voice might spook the animal in the next room. Only the sound of water on the pan. With a sigh, Bubblegum returned her attention to Peppermint Butler; but if she was relieved, he was angry. His eyes said it all, but that didn't spare his words.

"Princess! What has happened here?"

"Peppermint Butler, please keep your voice down. I'll explain."

"Yes, I wish you would."

"Hey, I'm not going to stand for this! I've had enough insubordination to last me the rest of my life these last couple of days."

"Princess," he said cooly, though his eyes kept their edge, "I know what he is, and I know where he's from. But…"

"But what? And how do you know these things?"

"I asked some serious questions of a guest," he answered smoothly, eyes closed for a moment, "But what I don't know yet is what he did to you?"

"… You've been conjuring demons again."

"Ignoring that I'm malconvoking, but I need you to answer me."

"I-I," she started defensively, "I really doubt I need to answer that."

"… Princess. What did Finn do?"

That was a freezing question, and summarily Bubblegum stood tall and chilled to the bone. He knew. And she hated that he knew. He knew it was Finn, and he knew that it wasn't the Finn the world wanted it to be. The madness rolls on, painfully and inexorably. She gave her servitor a deep, sad glance, and seeing that look, Peppermint Butler let his outrage flow out from his body, replaced with sympathy in a moment's notice.

"Peppermint Butler. I know you want only to help. But for now, I need this to remain a controlled situation."

"… Princess, nothing about this is controlled anymore."

"I know, but," she said with a sigh, ears perking up at the sound of the shower shutting off, "this can be resolved without anymore chaos."

He looked sad, but that sadness faded and P. Butler's face contorted into a grimace, just as Bubblegum pulled the door shut. His fists shook with a bitter, smoky rage just prior to him storming off. Princess Bubblegum leaned her head against the door, eyes shut tight and listened to her friend and confidant stomp away. She wanted to cry again. Once again, though, she swallowed the filling and breathed deep. And turned quickly when she heard the door to the bathroom open.

"Princess," he said quietly, cloaked in soft pink towels, "are you alright?"

As he jostled his wet hair with a towel, Bubblegum stared at him. Each scar, each burn, each muscle forged in violence stood out more defined with that thin layer of water that stuck to his skin. It inspired a unique feeling, seeing him like that… a feeling she shook from her head, replacing it with a frown.

"You're fi-. … I'm fine. Now, please, go sit down. We're going to have that discussion now."

She watched him smile coyly for a brief moment; did he catch her staring, or her near miss? The smile passed, and he strode effortlessly to the chair he spent the early hours of the night in. Bubblegum continued her frown, making her face express anger even while she felt something else in her stomach. Once he was seated, facing away from her, she took time to retreat to her closet. She stripped off the tattered remains of her ruined night gown, casting the torn raiment to the floor, leaving her body naked in this quiet, lonely place for a moment. She stopped to look at herself in a mirror. Some days she felt proud when she looked at body. Some days she felt nothing. This was a moment unlike either of those. She felt a piercing chill, and ran her hands up and down her arms before she took a new gown from the rack.

Finn sat eyes closed, clearing his mind and doing all he could to keep calm and relax. He was pensive, to say the least, reflecting on the past he dearly wished to forget, which he used magic run from, and Bubblegum to steel himself against. And speak of the devil…

"Alright, Finn," she said with an air of command, shifting a chair from her vanity to a spot directly across from Finn, "we're going to discuss you're past. Tell me your-. Oh…". Her sentence was broken as she slowly sat down. Why? Well, she could do little besides notice that Finn's towel was parted. He stared at her as she froze, his eyes questioning. "Ahem," she resumed, "tell me your story. And if you don't mind, adjust your towel, or go get dressed."

"Oh, sorry," he said softly, doing as she requested, though he opted to shift his towel rather than redress himself. Once done, he looked back up to her. "But… are you sure?"

"Am I sure?"

"Are you sure you wanna hear it?"

"… Yes. Start at the beginning. When your world and this world diverged."

"Di… what? When they became different?"

"Yes, exactly that."

"O-okay," he whispered, taking a few deep breaths before letting silence rule the room. "It starts… when you die."

* * *

_The Blackstone Mines_

"Finn, wake up. … Finn!"

"Jake, wha-? Ow ow ow, hey!"

Finn sat up from the stone floor, disturbed by the sensation of Jake pinching his belly. He rolled forward, body aching with the pain of the night on hard rock. Still dizzy from his deep slumber, he scanned the room for a moment, not remembering where he was just yet. The memory of last night had to work its way back into his head for the tunnel to make any sense. Jake stared at him passively while the boy came to terms with the reality of the situation. It wasn't a difficult one, it just sucked.

"Huh… is it morning?"

"Yeah, man. That storm was crazy, wasn't it? Knocked down all sorts of trees and rocks and stuff," Jake said with a yawn as he walked back to the entrance of the mine. When he looked out at the morning painted landscape, it was indeed as he described: rockslides caused the night before had more or less laid waste to the mountainside.

Finn was more interested in stretching his limbs and back, waking his pained muscles from a dormant state while thinking about what to do next. He guessed that Jake was probably done with this whole mess. But Finn had it in him to go into the mine, see the sights and such. The fire had smoldered away in the night, leaving no light source to rely upon past the door to the depths. He still wore the miner's helmet though, which he noticed when tried to scratch behind his ear, and recalling that, he remembered the mining equipment further down the tunnel.

"Come on, Jake. Let's see what's down there now."

"Dude, what? We're still doing this? I wanna go home."

"We're already here, dude. We might as well see what kinda place we slept in all night," Finn said placidly, "and besides, I already found this cool hat. Might be other stuff."

He lit an unused piece of firewood and started off down the tunnel, at first unaware he was alone. Jake, rather than follow, just stared after his buddy as he slowly strode off, footsteps echoing in the bleak eternity as the torchlight slowly faded from view. He'd really just rather go home…

"Bah. Dang it Finn!"

He took to following then, catching up with Finn after a brisk run which made him fall flat on his face once or twice. Once so caught up, Jake just sighed and smiled, choosing to get caught up in Finn's boyish sense of adventure rather than dwell on pessimistic thoughts. The tunnel stretched on for a time, until they spied a faint, green light at the end of it. They ran, struggling to keep on their feet as the slope gradually steepened along the way. It grew brighter and brighter, even as Finn was forced to the throw down the torch as it burned dangerously close to Finn's hand. They slowed to a stop when they reached the source of the light.

"Whoa… dude, Jake…"

The tunnel opened up into a vast, conical chamber that stretched up and down. A path carved of stone and connected with rotted, wooden platforms here and there wound around the the wall of the cone, which ended near the ceiling, where a gap in the cave roof allowed sunlight to filter down into the chamber. The stone walls were of a green stone, with long stretches of glittering black slate weaving through the rock. The path stretched around the cave toward the bottom, too, though the floor was hidden by a great pool of water, obviously having filled the lower portions of cave over the course of the ages.

"Wow. This place is awesome…"

_She listened intently as he revealed what lurked in the shadows._

_"Princess. … When the Ice King dropped you in the Lich's pool of power, I didn't know it at the time, but… that killed you. You survived, yeah, but, the Lich, he-."_

_"I know Finn. He used my body as a vessel. He did that here too."_

_"He turned you into a monster. And… he used you to kill everyone. You… he… the Lich killed everyone he saw, everyone in the Candy Kingdom. And you… you did something to them. I don't know what it was. It was a spell or something. Everyone who died, they started walking around. It was like that zombie potion… but it was a lot worse, I think. It felt that way, even in the beginning."_

Finn looked over the side of path that wound around the chamber, peering down at the water below. It was dank, and smelled a little sour, and to this he made a mental note to avoid taking a drop into it, especially given that it must've been a good ninety, hundred foot drop. Jake looked up, spying a number of hollow spots along the path that must've been doors into other tunnels. He started walking along the path, and Finn soon followed, and both seemed more or less enthralled by the room they found themselves in.

_"Okay, Finn. What happened after that?"_

_"Jake… Jake saved me. The Lich, he tried to kill me. He tried to spit some stupid magic death ray at me. Jake… I'm so sorry. He jumped into it. He saved me. I think maybe he shouldn't have."_

_"I'm sorry…"_

_"It's okay."_

_"But how did you get away?"_

_"It was Lady Rainicorn. The Lich tried to kill me again. But Lady Rainicorn saved me. She pulled me up and we flew away. I had to watch the Lich destroy the Candy Kingdom. He ripped it up with his bare hands…"_

"Hey Jake," Finn said somberly, looking up at a long stretch of the glittering black mineral that permeated the otherwise soft green walls, "where are we?"

"Don't know, man. Some sort of mine, I guess."

"And what's all the black rock?"

"That's blackstone. I don't really remember what it's for."

"Huh," Finn pondered out loud, "so we're in a blackstone mine?"

"I guess so, man."

Jake stopped and peered into a black oubliette of a tunnel, wondering if it was worth it to keep going in this dank, abandoned place. The air coming from that offshoot seemed stale and a touch rotten, the stench leftover from probably more than one dead guy left to decay in the under dark. Finn walked past him, eager to find something of interest in the mines. What he nearly found was that drop into the water below, when a misplaced foot found loose stone and caused it to crumble. Finn slid off the side with a yell, though one more of mild frustration than one of fear. He was snagged some ten feet above the water below, Jake's hand having extended down to catch him, leaving the boy dangling down in the green light. During the course of his visit, Finn lifted his head, and so happened to spy a door that seemed larger than the rest, and running across its floor, ending at the edge of the pit, was a rusted out railway.

"Hey Jake, can you move me over to the ledge?! There's something down here!"

"Okay, wait a sec!"

Jake strained to move Finn to the ledge he pointed to, making his best effort to avoid taking a tumble down himself. The stone floor was a little slick from the rain the night before, water having filtered down the walls from the hole in the ceiling. It made the whole cave glisten beautifully, but it also made it dangerous. Finn touched his feet on a rotten wood rail, and tugged Jake's arm to bid him follow. When Jake joined Finn down at the tunnel mouth, one stretching limb after the other, they nodded in agreement before starting into the dark. Finn, luckily, found a lantern just past the entrance, and using the last of the miner's matches lit it up for the journey into the mineshaft.

_"After me and Lady ran to the treehouse, she started scooping a bunch of stuff into my bag, and I knew I had to find BMO. He didn't know… he didn't know what was happening. I found him jumping on my bed… and I looked out the window and saw…"_

_"What did you see?"_

_"They were leaving the Candy Kingdom. They started out into the world. I don't… didn't think I was ever as afraid of anything before. I went back, found Lady, 'cause we had to go, we had to run away. She was… she was just crying. Crying and crying…"_

The lantern's soft glow revealed many a hole in the wall of the tunnel, clearly where intrepid miners pulled large chunks of blackstone from the earth and loaded them in the carts that would squeal along the track, leaving behind divots ranging wildly in size. Each roughly round gap in the wall cast eerie shadows as the boys walked along, keeping Finn's attention upon his surroundings whilst Jake stared forward absentmindedly.

"Hmm…"

"Hm, what?", Jake asked, breaking from his doldrum.

"Do think PB will know what the blackstone is for?"

"Oh, yeah, probably."

Silence resumed, which was annoying for both parties. Jake was bored out of his mind, and Finn just wanted him to talk.

"Dude, Jake, what gives?"

"I wanna be done with this. Sometimes you have awesome ideas. This ain't awesome."

"Yeah, well," Finn answered half-defensively, "what would you rather do? Get fat on ice cream?"

"Yes."

The tunnel turned here and there, sometimes at gentle angles, sometimes at sharp ones. All in all though, it had the general feeling of walking uphill, so if nothing else, the mine wasn't spiraling further into the belly of the mountain. The walls seemed less pitted as they walked on; finally, after a sharp right turn, they saw light at the end of the tunnel, the green glow not unlike that of the previous chamber. As the pair ran to the tunnel mouth, they found themselves, indeed in the exact same room as before, albeit at a higher level.

"What? This is the same room," Finn half-yelled in frustration.

"This place is like some sorta stupid maze. We could walk around forever and find nothin'. Finn, let's just go.", Jake said as he gestured up to the hole in the ceiling. He also happened to look up, and his exasperated words reverberated faintly, "Aww, nuts."

"What?"

Pebbles fell onto Finn's hardhat, drawing his attention even more so to what Jake was looking at, which caused him to gasp. There, crawling along the wall, was that cursed thing, that rock colored, spidery monster that attacked them in the storm. It opened its wide mouth, revealing many sharp teeth, along with some broken ones. Its body looked battered and ruined, yet one could quickly conclude that whatever injuries it sustained were minor at best. After all, it was crawling along a vertical surface like it was the floor. It roared angrily as it descended the wall.

_"Lady didn't stop crying even when we ran away. Me and BMO watched as the dead candy people started out across the grasslands. We tried yelling at people as we passed them, tried to tell 'em to run away. They… they didn't. They didn't know what to do. One family… they were just trying to have a picnic…"_

_He choked on a sob as his train of thought broke apart._

_"It's okay, Finn. Take your time."_

_"I… princess. I tried. I tried so hard. They were so many of them though… it didn't take long before they were everywhere. We didn't know where to go… the sun was going down."_

"Dude, that thing looks cheesed off."

"Duh, Jake! Move!"

They were forced to run back into the tunnel as the creature leaped gracefully down toward them, a cruel and hungry hiss in its throat. Peering into the dark after them with its huge red eye, the beast hissed again, scraping its claws on the floor after them, but finding the tunnel was less than accommodating for its odd bulk. Clamping its maw a couple times, it skittered away from the tunnel they retreated into; this wasn't the monster's first hunt in these mines. It crawled up the wall above the tunnel mouth, smashed its piercing claws against the wall, and buried the entry way in a pile of rocks before moving on to the tunnel's outlet. Patience, it had…

_"That's when I knew where we could go. 'Marceline's house, Lady! That's where we can go!' She'd know what to do, I thought… and when we got to her cave, it was already dark out. She wasn't home. Lady just kept crying… and BMO wouldn't stop asking where Jake was… and that made Lady cry harder! And I didn't know what to do, and everyone was dying!"_

_He started to hyperventilate, the flashback taking its toll._

_"Easy Finn, it's okay. Just relax, take a few deep breaths."_

_He tried to do as she directed, but all he could was imagine the end of the world. The only thing that brought him back was the soft touch of Bubblegum's fingers as she touched his hand. One by one, his breaths slowed down, and with one last gasp he found calm again._

_"I'm okay… and Marceline came back after a while. She came in looking upset… she already knew what was happening, and I told her everything I could. I don't why I thought she would be able help… there was nothing she could do. Nothing except let us sleep while she watched out for us. I didn't think I could, but I did. I had nightmares that night, and have ever since."_

Finn and Jake panted in the dark, lit by the orange flame of the lantern and staring at each other with puzzled looks. The sound of the cavein behind them clued them into the fact they were pinned, and that going to the other end of the tunnel would be a dreadful trap. What was there to do? If the monster caught them in an avalanche, their choices were to dive into the water, and probably die, or get eaten, and definitely die.

"Okay, don't worry Finn," Jake said between gasping breaths, "I saw another little tunnel a ways down here. It's probably an air vent or somethin'."

"So what? If it's just an air vent, I don't think I'll be able to get out."

"Huh, yeah. But, if I can get out, I can sneak attack the monster. Then you can get out."

"Alright, that's good stuff! Let's go!"

_"The next day, Marceline gave us some supplies and stuff. Lady stopped crying, but she didn't stop looking sad. Ever. BMO said he wanted to stay with Marceline, so I left him there for a while. She told us to go see Billy, and to be as careful as we could. We left in the morning when the sun came up. Lady flew high in the clouds, so that no one would see us. But we could see them… little black dots running around, chasing people and animals…"_

_"… That sounds horrible."_

Jake led Finn to where he saw the offshoot tunnel, and true to description, it couldn't have been anything besides an air vent from the tunnel to the central chamber. Looking through the hole showed a straight shot to the green light-filled room. Shrinking down to fit into the gap, Jake climbed into the hole with FInn's help.

"Alright Finn, go down to where we came in, and distract that thing. I'll drop down and knock its wads off!"

"You got it bro."

With the tiniest of fist bumps, the two parted, Jake toward the central chamber, and Finn to the other end of the tunnel, now possessed of a strange hope that the monster was waiting for him. With great trepidation and eager quickness, Finn hustled through the darkness, throwing his lantern aside when it started to die. He more or less knew where he was going, keeping a brisk pace as he took the sloping path down, bumping into walls as the course turned this way and that. Finally, he saw the exit, as well as a brief glimpse of a large red eye curled around the top of the tunnel mouth. Finn stopped a moment, took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and walked slowly, deliberately, and audibly to the exit, making great pains to ignore his instincts and produce noise as he approached a monster.

Jake, meanwhile, watched the wall-crawler as it lurked above the tunnel exit, watching its big eye-stalk wag slowly as it patiently waited for Finn to emerge. Jake, unlike his counterpart, skulked about silently, still a tiny mote of his usual size, until he was positioned more or less directly above the beast. He waited, waited… oh Glob, how the suspense was killing him. Finally, through the cave echoed:

"Now Jake!"

The monster lurched down into the exit, snapping its toothy maw and slashing with its fore claws, exposing its flank quite candidly. Little Jake hunched down, breathed a deep breath, then jumped off the ledge with a tiny spring. He dropped down the distance quickly, bloating up his body and fists as he fell. He slammed into the creature with surprise and force, and it bellowed a mixture of fury and fright as it fell from the wall and crashed to the floor upside down, eyestalk pinned beneath its mass. It lurched back and forth as Jake stood upon it, griping gutturally as it thrashed its legs. Finn sprung out from the dark with a fierce shout, slashing down on its mouth with his bloodiron blade. It cut into the rocky skin of the monster, and it squealed in pain as its super-tough flesh parted around the blade. With great effort, Finn pulled his sword free, and wedged it under the beast's body.

"Jake, help me!"

Jumping to his partner's side, Jake wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword, and together they lifted the wounded monster with the sword as a lever. It skidded across the lip of the rock path, sliding over the edge, hissing savagely as its body worked against it and the hideous thing spilled into the water below. With a huge splash, the monster disappeared into the drink, bubbles filing up from where it crashed down as it struggled and writhed in a bid to escape a watery grave. But the beast was not meant for water… it perished in the pool below.

"… I think we got it," Finn muttered with a sigh as he sheathed his great sword.

"Whew. That was fun, I guess. Can we go now?"

"Well," he said as he took stock of the mine around him. None of the tunnels had any loot… maybe the flooded areas did, but they didn't have the gear for that little escapade. "Yeah, man, I guess we are."

_"When we got to Billy's Crack… I actually didn't think things were gonna' get worse. But… when we got there, the cave was exposed, and… there was only the smell of death. I had Lady stay outside. I don't know if I could ever forgive myself if she got hurt, after she saved my life… and I went into the Crack. The smell… that's what I remember most. It smelled awful, and it got worse the further I went. I heard noises too, like an animal was scratching around in the dark. Then I saw him… Billy, hunched over in the dark. I couldn't see what he was doing. The smell was terrible. I got closer and closer, then I called out to him. 'Billy. It's me Finn.' … He turned around, and I saw his face. Blood all over his chin. He was… he was hunched over the little old lady, the one he liked… he was eating her guts. Billy was… he was one of them now. He screamed at me, just like you did, once the Lich was inside you. I… ran."_

* * *

_The Candy Kingdom_

He sat very still and very quiet, face plastered with a look of guilt and fear and loss. Bubblegum watched him quietly, and her eyes slowly filled with tears. After a moment, Finn sniffed and rubbed his nose, taking the moment to cast his eyes to the floor as he swallowed hard the feelings he desperately wanted to forget.

"Finn…"

"There was nothing I could do. I couldn't save any of them…"

"We can stop," she said almost eagerly, "we don't have to keep going."

"I'd like that… but…"

She looked at him sympathetically, maybe for the first time since she thought he was someone else. Her eyes travelled up and down his weary frame, taking in the scars one at a time. A knife here, a mean bite there… those scars were the scars of a world falling into shadow. What didn't follow, what didn't make sense, were the burns. Two hand prints were seared into his sides, just below his ribs, and a long, gently winding ribbon wove down his torso. Those were probably the worst injuries she saw on him, though the mental wounds were clearly far worse.

"Finn, is it alright if I ask about your scars?"

"… I," he whispered now, doing everything in his power to look away from Bubblegum, "if I do. Promise you won't hate me."

"Finn, I won't hate…", she gave pause. "I won't hate you for what you say."

"You… yeah. You can ask about my scars."

"Will you tell me about those ones," she gestured towards his burns, "the hand prints and the one in the middle?"

His hands curled into fists; he feared those were the ones she would ask about. A growl in his throat voiced his discomfort, and Bubblegum momentarily thought of changing the subject. Before she could, he looked back at her, eyes teared over, and he spoke.

"Those scars… I got those from the princess of the Fire Kingdom."

* * *

_A while back, on the other side_

Finn waded through a river that night, boots held aloft over his head. The cold water soaked through his clothes and his armor, and he struggled once or twice on the rocky bottom of the flow. He underestimated entirely how cold the water was, regretting ever so briefly not disrobing entirely, so that he wouldn't be left with soaked clothes. He'd have to stop and dry off anyway now… but when he heard a far away shriek in the dark, moonless night, he remembered why he spared not an extra second past taking off his boots. The hunting dead were hot on his trail, and if he didn't have time to find a safer crossing, he surely didn't have time to strip down and redress. Hell, once or twice he nearly lost his footing and his boots. He clung tight and made every effort to stay steady in the river; there is a short list of items one can never lose in this new world, and a good pair of shoes ranked second on that list, right after armor and barely edging out a reliable weapon. Once across, Finn dropped to his knees and struggled to get his boots back on in the dark. He heard them across the river now, and he fell silent, not moving, not making even the slightest of sounds. They sniffed at the ground, scratched at the dirt, mulled about… then, with a blood-chilling shriek, one of them plunged into the water and started its way across. The jig is up! Finn hastily pulled his boots on, not caring about the noise, or the sound of the rest of the ghoul pack jumping into the river. He had to get away now!

"Come on, come on!"

Once his feet were shoed once more, Finn plunged off into the dark, though what he didn't know was that the glade of trees he though he was approaching were all but scorched into ruin. The burned up limbs scratched at his arms and his skull helmet, and his feet crunched in the ashen soil, but he didn't think about that as much as the sound of the screaming ghouls that trailed him, stinking, biting mouths full of razor sharp teeth eager for human flesh. Bit by bit, though, Finn became aware of the wrongness in the terrain. Specifically, he found it was becoming more and more difficult to breath, and his run began to slow as his eyes started to sting and his breath was caught up in coughs. Finally, painfully, wracked with coughs, he had to stop. He strained to breath through his noise and tried to wipe his eyes through his helmet, frustrated by its bulk now that it was useless. The undead, unhindered by such mundane traits as atmosphere, drew closer. Finn could only mutter in defeat, but not because of the hunters that chased him. In the dark, he saw an orange glimmer.

"Where there's smoke, there's fire…"

The first ghoul stopped in the dark, seeing and hearing its mortal quarry standing still. It snapped its teeth in anticipation, snorted, and charged. Drawing his blade with a growl, Finn swiped the blazing thing bottom to top, slicing the ghoul in half with an uncanny blow before taking to leaning back against a tree. Its burning remains fell to the ground, and the rest of the pack became enraged at the sight. Before they could take but two steps, though, the black night lit up with screaming, scorching balls of fire, streaming out from patches of the forest that previously were lit only by what looked like faint embers. Fire Kingdom soldiers, lurking in the darkness, advanced on the pack of ghouls, spitting globs of elemental fire on their undead targets. The ghouls, trapped, under fire, burning up, didn't retreat, instead advanced outward in all directions, charging at the interlopers. All but when struck out at the elemental troopers, this one choosing instead to attack Finn, the intended target of the hunting party. Finn, though, was growing weaker and weaker as the smoke choked him out. It lunged, leaping at him, ripping claws extended, ichor-drooling mouth agape, when the night was blasted out of existence by a wave of fire. The ghoul, too, was blasted out of the night, body wholly consumed by the searing hot flames. The heat of the fire caused Finn to wither away from the tree, falling into the ash on the forest floor. When he heard the cackling, he knew what was at work.

"Burn them! Burn them up! All of them!"

There before him towered a greater fire elemental, body engorged with flames. Its voice, though feminine, was harsh, rattling, and vicious, possessed with the urge to punish and destroy everything. The sneering, laughing creature turned about and regarded Finn, wilted and sprawled on the ground, with mean, searing eyes. She raised a blazing limb, as if to strike him down, when he pushed the helmet from his face, trying his hardest to breath in the harsh air. Just before darkness took him, the flaming body of the elemental he saw seemed to recede somewhat, though her grin was even more frightful than before.

"Wait… you're him, aren't you? Hm hm, what fun! What fun for me!"

He woke in a red-lit space, coughing slightly as he did, lungs still burning with the pain of the ashes and smoke he unwittingly breathed in. It was still night, but he wasn't sure how far the dawn was. His first thought, like everyday, was whether or not he was being hunted. But as he tried to lean up from the metal panel he was lying upon, it became clear that wasn't his first priority right now. No, that honor went to finding a way to break the bonds that held him fast to that metal pane by his wrists and ankles. Priority number two, solving the issue of being naked. Tied down and naked in a strange, dark place at the end of the world… for a moment, he was certain life was over. Finn struggled, grunting quietly as he pulled at the black leather straps that held him, but they did nothing but mockingly creak at his efforts. Harder, he thought, harder! Pull harder.

"Alright, that's enough of that. You're gonna hurt yourself."

He stopped his tugging, mouth opened slightly as adrenaline flooded his heart. The room was lighter than before; a fire elemental had entered, and her mean, feminine voice drifted through the air. He felt her heat as she approached silently, feet not making a sound. That was probably what scared him most about fire elementals… when they weren't wearing their hard, tungsten armor, their steps didn't make a single sound. He closed his eyes, smothering the fear. No room for fear… face your fate head on, he told himself. When he opened his eyes, he knew what he would see, judging by the heat and light he felt and saw through his eye lids Her face was hovering over his, eyes and lips caught in a cruel smile.

"Finn the Mortal. Last of the living of Ooo. Heh heh, look at you."

"You're… the princess of-."

"Flame Princess will do. Or, well," she said with a curt, matter of fact tone, "it would do, if it weren't for your… predicament."

"What?"

"Since you're my captive now, and that means you belong to me," she continued, "you'll do well to call me Mistress."

Gripping the metal panel by the corner, Flame Princess, scorched across the floor, pulling at the plate as she did. It was set on a swivel, and it pivoted about with her as she went. Finn spun about, closing his eyes to avoid the nausea he started to feel. She halted the spin as suddenly as she began it, laughing to herself as she watched her captive shudder.

"What's wrong? You got to live, you know. Those ghouls probably would've ripped you apart, wholesale. I saved your life. You can thank me."

He remained silent, and kept his eyes screwed shut in defiance. Her temper flared, and with a murderous growl Flame Princess pushed down forcefully on the end of the table where his feet lay bound, and the pane swiveled up so that they were face to face. She planted her hands on either side of his head, and with a great surge of heat she shouted.

"Look at me! Look at me and say 'thank you Mistress!'"

He turned his head away, shying from the heat as much as from the bullying. She pushed back on the table, and it slammed back down into its starting position, jolting Finn into opening his eyes. His captor spun him around again and knelt down to look him in the eye.

"Stupid dog! Thank me!"

"… Thank you," he said with great venom. Feeling bitter… that was the only thing that would quiet his fear.

"Thank you what?"

She pressed a finger against his cheek, burning his flesh and causing Finn to growl and whimper from the pain. He pulled his head away, and Flame Princess cackled in utter delight as he did. At least, until he spoke again.

"I won't call you Mistress. Never."

"Wha-? Oh, really?"

She growled and took the table by the edge above Finn's head, flipping it up with great force before her rage-fueled body scorched its way around to where he hung exposed. Her angry features made him shudder, but he didn't give him to her intimidation. But this… this wouldn't stop her from getting her way. There wasn't a whole lot that could manage that.

"You will call me mistress. Every pet learns who the master is!"

Without warning, without a word, Flame Princess reached toward Finn with both palms… and his world became pain. He yelled loud and long as her hands gripped his flesh on either side, just below the ribs. Each gasp of agony, each twitch his muscles made to escape from the prison of pain, made her smile and bite her lip hard. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she released him. The skin and muscle on his sides glowed with the fierce redness of seared flesh, and the smell of cooking meat filled the room. Flame Princess only grinned deviously and looked at her captive's weary face, noting the streams of tears that were brought unwillingly from his eyes. His chest heaved, and his body spasmed somewhere between relaxation and tension as his mind cleared of the white hot light it saw for the last few seconds.

"You make such lovely sounds, Finn… make more for me…."

He gritted his teeth and screamed through them as she leaned close to his neck and flicked out her tongue against his skin. She pulled that burning extension down his chest and stomach, cooking a curved line of flesh as she drew her way down to his waist. She only stopped once there, and smiled and breathed out her fiery hot breath against his body. The princess was quite possessed of her excitement now… the noises he made, the smell of his skin both before and after… and now the sight of his nude body, all drew out some vicious, burning need. A single digit reached out toward his manhood, hanging idly before her. Finn's whole body tensed in dreadful anticipation, and at that she stayed her hand. To his surprise, Flame Princess backed away from his body, and with a shift of her foot she tilted the table back to its flat position. He gasped for air, hot and harsh as it was, as tears continued to pollute his face. The pain was outright unbearable… the vision of the red-lit ceiling was replaced by Flame Princess's hand as it swirled in the air in front of his face. Swirling embers danced about her fingers, grouping together into swirling, nebulous letters. One by one, dancing in the air above him, until with a giggle and swipe of her hand the Ignan letters were scooped into her palm.

Finn tilted his head back in time to see Flame Princess force her lip onto his. At first he cringed from the feeling of his lips burning, but the pain passed almost instantly, and as her tongue forced its way into his mouth, wrapping around his like a hungry serpent, he felt the whole of his body overcome by a sensation of coolness, and only the heat of the princess's tongue and mouth could be felt in that muggy, oppressive room. She pulled from lips and sighed with her eyes closed wistfully, a mild smile played on her face. She strode to his side and leaned over his body, and as Finn leaned forward as best he could, he saw two things: his body was cloaked in soft, blue light, and Flame Princess hands were starting work with his nether regions. The sensation of her fingers, hot and tender, caused a violent shudder through his body, and though the heat was tolerable, he felt his blood boiling from his toes to the top of his head.

"See now, Finn? You're going to call me mistress. Your body already thinks it's a good idea… look at you!"

Her grin showed teeth, and examining himself, Finn indeed found his own body had turned against him, his arousal at her ministrations beyond ignoring. He felt so… helpless. And when he saw Flame Princess leaning in close again, he felt not only helpless but chilled with dread. Until he let his head fall back, eyes screwed shut. All he felt now was a fierce mix of shame and delight as Flame Princess's hands and what could only be her mouth set to the task of pleasing and tormenting her new toy. He gasped at first, doing all he could to smother what he felt in his gut. But those gasps eventually evened out… smooth, low groans issued from Finn's throat as the minutes passed, the continuum perforated by the occasional giggle of his dominatrix. The sensations stopped suddenly, and Finn opened his eyes to look up at her. She smirked when what she saw in his eyes was a mix of anxiety and begging, asking her what else he should fear to have happen as much as they asked why she stopped.

"See, Finn? You're already gonna be a good boy, aren't you?"

She climbed onto the table, her subtle, immaterial weight pressing on him as she straddled his waist. Her body shimmered as she panted and sighed and looked at him with those mean, burning eyes.

"W-what are you gonna do? Get off me!"

"Quiet slave!"

Her grin disappeared for a moment as her body convulsed in a surge of fire. Even through the flame shield, his body felt a dreadful amount of heat, though it did little more than unsettle him. She "calmed" down as quickly as she flared up, returning to grinning as she bit her lip and sidled slowly backward. Finn gasped when his lower flesh felt her body press against it, bending the turgid muscle gently.

"Now, this next part? You'll be begging for this. You'll say 'mistress, please today?' Hm hmm, everyday, Finn. Everyday!"

She leaned up and reached between her legs. Finn did his best not to see, to find egress into his mind. But the princess found the mark, and Finn found himself buried in a world of fire and pressure and sickening pleasure. She uttered a baleful, delighted moan as her body accommodated his, and for a moment she just remained still on his hips, her hands resting on his strong shoulders. When she opened her eyes and looked down at his beleaguered face, she felt the most grim of satisfactions, and her hips shared that feeling with him. With a calm shift of her weight, she began her work anew, and Finn could do little besides let Flame Princess rape him.

"Gah! Flame Princess! You have to stop! Y-you have to s-stop!"

"Don't talk!"

She squeezed his shoulders, digging searing, ember like finger nails into his skin. He felt a burning sensation in his tissues at that squeeze, and new the flame shield could hardly stand up to abuse when the situation arose. Helplessness… that's what he felt once more. As she bounced up and down, he shuddered, not knowing what to feel but feeling sick to his stomach all the same. Or maybe it wasn't sickness…

"Mmm hm hm, oh yeah…"

She sped up, and he felt a heat in her core as she forced him to stab at it again and again. The throbbing in his loins grew from a faint nothing to an overwhelming pulse, a beating as fierce and loud in his body as his heart. She leaned in close and ran her tongue across Finn's jaw, and it delighted her that he didn't turn away; his efforts were wholly on trying not to lose his mind. The bouncing became a slamming, and it would likely have hurt had it not been for the fact that Flame Princess's elemental body weighed nearly nothing. Her breathing hastened, and she drooped her head so that it rested in the crook of his neck, all the while the heat of her body growing hotter and hotter.

"Finn!"

He gasped, feeling a tight convulsion in her body. Flame Princess pushed hard against his shoulders as she arched her back, and flames spiraled off her body as she groaned loud through her teeth. He felt her body pulling at him where they were most intimately joined, and in moments he felt something erupting from deep inside, surging away in series of pulsating spasms, traveling from the depths of his loins into hers. And he knew, deep in the crevasse of his sanity he knew… that it felt more wonderful than anything he'd felt these last twelve months.

* * *

He sat there, cold and tired and clutching his head in his hands. Through the shadows he cast on his face, Princess Bubblegum saw Finn's lip quiver. There he sat, villain and victim, dredging out some severely painful memories at her slightest whims. And why? So that she could try to piece together something of this madness in her own life? No matter how hateful and ruined she felt… somehow all she could think was that he had worse to dwell on. She stood up and walked the short distance to him. She rested a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up; his eyes were flooded with tears, and a remorseful look that suggested he'd connected, now, what had happened to him with what he had done to her. What more could she do?

"I'm sorry Finn," she said as she cradle his head in her arms, pulling him into an empathic hug. "I'm sorry."


	6. The Magnitude of Memories

I want to thank every one reading this chapter for their patience. This chapter was being written at the same time that life complicated itself, as it so often does.

I also want to thank Platonic Duckling for his/her reviews. I trust that you will enjoy the rest of the story.

Special thanks to GlitterElixir for her help in writing this chapter.

Now. On with the show

* * *

**The Magnitude of Memories**

* * *

_The Frozen Peaks of the Ice King_

That day, the Ice King felt the pain of a glacier piercing the space between his eyes.

He groaned in impatience and pain and weariness. Every light, every sound, every minute, sensory detail of the world only brought on deep, throbbing, brain-splitting pain as the Ice King lay back on his frosty easy chair. He masked his eyes with the darkest sunglasses he owned, and pressed two hemispheres of ice against his ears, doing all in his considerable but uncoordinated power to dull the raging migraine that pierced his brain front to back.

All this pain, thanks to that stupid, ugly-faced, raspy-voiced interloper!

What a fruitcake. It was then that Ice King surmised the interloper was the kind of person at a social gathering that would pretend to be cool and awesome. Pretending to be cool and awesome despite the fact that he, the Ice King, was obviously the much more handsome, suave, and romantic person in any given room. Especially his own living room. Though, he also thought, Gander could give him some serious competition. Gander always was very good with the ladies.

What an ice munch. And if his brain didn't have a thousand exploding stars, Ice King would have gladly declared so to the odd and unexplainable kitten that was jumping from his cupboard to avoid his line of sight.

Even though most rational sane beings, upon seeing what he had seen in the past hours, would question and fret and worry and reflect…the only thing that crossed his wizard mind...was his massive wizard headache.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!"

He whimpered as the very thought of that cursed blackguard, swooping in at the last moment and seizing his precious Bubblegum like a hungry gull. The figure-wait, had that been a real figure? Or had it been someone he knew? Someone new? The spike in blood pressure, even with his frozen blood, was enough to make his brain swell like a balloon in a very tight, unforgiving box. Pain… that's all the Ice King has had to enjoy in his free time. Pain. That, and the somewhat comforting delusion that kept him going.

"That stupid jerk…" Ice King looked over at the picture on his wall, where in a very unsuspecting Bubblegum was trying to punch him square in the mouth, moments before the shot. "Well, at least Bubblegum wanted to kiss me. Hee hee, saved her life, yep. Ow… eh, oh well, I'll remind her next time." Ice King picked up a rather frantic penguin. "Whatcha think of that honey? I'll trick her into marrying me. And then you'll have a mommy. A bubblegum mommy."

"Wawk."

"Yes, Gunther, _every _part of her is made of bubblegum."

"…Wawk."

The Ice King's cheeks flamed, and he gave an animated gasp. "Gunther, no! Stop falling asleep to Daddy's channels!" He winced at his own loud voice, but did not spare a disapproving glare. "Bad Gunther! Bad!" At the blank stare he received, he put down the penguin. "Sorry I had to be stern with you."

Only the wind outside was audible, beyond the babble of the wizard, and the gale was blocked, more or less, by the bisected ball of ice. He kept telling himself that all he needed to do was keep the cold against his head, even though his arms were getting tired. Gunther might have been some help in this regard, or so the frosty old fool told himself, if only the chiefest of penguins weren't possessed to babble madly about some tawdry matter at hand. In fact, the cold inclined bird waddled toward his master at this very moment…

"… Wawk."

"… Huh?"

"Wawk." The sounds of his black and white devil children seemed to be getting louder. More frantic. More desperate to be heard.

"No, Gunther," Ice King said cooly, though condescendingly, "I told you, Daddy's got a bad headache from when that cheating jerk bonked him in the back of the head. And you're a dummy."

"… Wawk!"

"Ow! Quiet!"

"Wawk!"

"What, again? I told you before, that's stupid! Just look outside!"

Ice King sprung from his chair, and in utter frustration marched to his overlook. Peering out his window, looking up a the infinite blue sky, and hating the sparkling sun in all its eye-piercing majesty, the wizard waved both hands frantically in the air.

"Look! Do you see anything, Gunther? I don't think so!"

Gunther turned in a circle. "Wawk!"

"Gunther, for the last time, there is not a hole in the world! There's no tear in the material plane connecting us to the 50 dead worlds!"

"Wawk!"

Gunther spun about angrily, flailing his tiny flippers about as if simulating some dire situation. It seems he was possessed not of some inane affair, but of a fear of a crucial, inter-planar disaster of the world-ending variety. If one could talk to a penguin, they might hear the thought process that a young deer makes at an unnatural feeling, the same bothered knowing that the environment could tell a story. That doom could be sensed and could mark a place as tightly as skin wrapped around bone. They might even hear Gunther plead to be taken seriously. His flipper pointing to the sky, as it was, looked rather clownish and brimming with the action a fat dog might take to get to his food bowl. The sky was clear, the open air not tainted with unnatural smells. For all normal eyes, even crazy wizard ones, it looked normal as always. To his credit, the Ice King did take a second look, trying to see what was so darn important.

Gunder and Gander and Gunter joined in with this symphony of distress. At this point, a blind man with forks for hands would have been unnerved, at least a little. It was the seriousness of it, the eyes that never strayed, the growing chatter of worried animals with no lack of focus. No turning away, no other response. It was like looking into tiny faces that believed with all their heart, something was unearthing.

Naturally, being a poo-brain, the Ice King chose to cover his ears instead, as the incessant squawking served not to warn him, but to agitate his migraine. The wizard pulled his hands from his ears only long enough to conjure a great ball of snow, and to pluck Gunther up and press him into its soft, icy surface. The other penguins fell into a soft chattering.

"Gunther, daddy has a headache," he said as he lifted the penguin and the snow ball to the window, "so go play make-believe doomsday outside!"

He shoved the great snowball out, and it tumbled down the mountain without even a mote of ceremony, Gunther squawking defiantly all the way down. The other penguins still stared out the window, but dispersed with a silent agreement that they would not be heard or listened to. Ice King peered down at the snowball with some satisfaction, revealed by way of a goofy smile. With a sigh, he walked quietly back to his easy chair, resuming his active suppression of light, noise, and pain.

"Stupid Gunther," he muttered, "End of the world..."

* * *

_The Candy Kingdom, late morning_

The room was so cold.

Princess Bubblegum sat upon the examination table thinking that; the table was so cold, and the floor like ice, as she sat in here at her most vulnerable. She was concerned about many things, of late, but the most recent addition to that list was the insatiable itching beneath the bandage that bound her injured leg. Her fingers drummed silently, playing the chords for a song Starchy had been whistling around the castle earlier. How long had she been away from the room? Why did it feel as if the wallpaper, sugary soft delicate pink bricks, were tattooed to the back of her eyelids. Seconds passed, but her anxiety grew.

With every blink, she saw her room. The bed, with the sheets slightly rustled, the imprint of thighs and glutes at the corner, telling anyone that two people had been having a chat. Another blink showed her the canvas of her bathroom mirror, where a tiny drop of toothpaste had not been cleaned yet from her morning activities. Another, this time she envisioned window, the frosted finger tips that had not yet melted away when last she left. These flashes came but stayed, imprinted. In each, she could see a ring of blonde hair, or a view of something similar. She had the thought, briefly, that he truly was intrusive. She could not even picture her own room without seeing corners of flesh that belonged to a separate entity. She wondered if this is how people who claimed to be haunted felt, as if something were going to press against her back and push so hard, she would be pressed into the earth. It was such a bother to keep her eyes peeled, looking, constantly observing. When she blinked again, her eyes begged to stay closed for sleep.

She was so very, very tired.

As Dr. Ice Cream slowly unwound the cloth around her limb, Bubblegum watched passively, seeing the bandage show stains as the deeper layers were exposed, seeing its work in protecting her wound from the elements. She wondered if he had ever used such bandages to kill, if he had wrapped the cloth around a vulnerable throat. The thought of a crushing windpipe made her fingers drum again, desperate to do something to distract her from thinking about it. The brain truly was marvelous. Even it, an organ, knew that she was on the edge and needed no assistance in falling into madness.

The soft served brought her back to the room. "This bandage is good work, princess. Did you do this yourself?"

She wished people would stop talking. She wished she could return to the room. What was happening, while she was gone? It seemed almost ludicrous, but the not knowing, it drove her to want to be back in that horrible room. Even if it was a cage, at least she could keep the cruel grinning pussycat at bay, at least she could keep her people safe. There were so many things she could not know, could not check, from being in this room. So many unknown variables. What good did a strong force do without being balanced? Would he flip out and attack her guards?

Bubblegum glanced at the arm. Decided that the business that needed to be taken care of, and her fears, were mutually exclusive. "… Yes."

Lying to her doctor made her feel worse. Though she had made questionable ethical decisions in the past, lying to her trusted and trusting physician seemed barely tolerable. The tenderness in her wound, though, distracted her once more as the good doctor peeled back the last layer of bandage still clinging to her leg. If she had been in the mind to be bothered with something like pain, she might have hissed. Done something. She no longer had the emotional energy to care if the doctor took her fingers and bit them off one by one in front of her eyes.

"There we are," Dr. Ice Cream said softly, "Oh, I see. Dear, you should have come to me sooner. It's unlike you not to…"

Bubblegum averted her gaze, also unlike her. It seemed shame was running deep this morning. The doctor frowned, but said nothing more about the princess's behavior, instead depositing the bandage into a biomedical waste bin before resuming her examination. The princess was sometimes difficult. Once, Bubblegum had burned her hand with a very toxic chemical. It had taken her three hours to look down in the midst of her writing and observing, to notice the skin of her hand had turned into a polka dotted pattern. There had been a handful of instances like that. The doctor, perhaps out of a need to finish the day without a hitch, continued to work. The skin was puckered, pink and angry, and sensitive to the touch. At the undressing of the wound, Bubblegum's hand wanted to reach down and destroy the horrible feeling of an itch caused by early infection.

The doctor noted to herself that some medicinal assistance might be in order. "You're lucky, your highness. It doesn't look very serious. How did you get this?"

Bubblegum shifted her weight, keeping her eyes on a container of cotton balls. The half lidded expression, whatever it held, did not belong on her face. "I was injured when the Ice King abducted me…"

"Oh yes, I heard about that," Dr. Ice Cream passively nodded as she handled the leg gingerly, "You were rescued, I heard. By a man. Wearing black, though that might be an added detail made up to thrill." If it was a joke, Princess Bubblegum did not laugh. In fact, the heightened inflection did nothing more that make her feel so very, very alone. So many unknown variables. The doctor blinked and let a concerned gaze slip between the sprinkles of her features. " No, but seriously...I do believe that's what your guard detail said."

Bubblegum's toes twitched. "They're talking about that, are they?" Her voice dropped. It sounded drugged. With all the potential to mimic any emotion.

"They were. " To keep that stare, which seemed purposefully exclusive, off of the pretty lady's face, the doctor backed off a bit. She even gave a reassuring smile. "Peppermint Butler has been quick to keep a lid on the matter, though…"

Now Princess Bubblegum looked Dr. Ice Cream in the eye, and this time the doctor frowned not from concern for her patient but for something else; she didn't know just what. For a moment, the two exchanged nothing but glances, and the doctor found continuing her examination to be exceptionally difficult. The foreboding look in Bubblegum's eyes… it eventually softened, and she turned her gaze aside again.

"He's just doing his duty in that regard."

"Princess," Dr. Ice Cream began, "we're just concerned. No one knows who the man in black is."

"I _know _who he is," the princess said low and harsh, as if dealing with someone monstrously uneducated. "that should suffice for now. Doctor, please, my leg."

"… Of course, ma'am."

Silence joined the chill in the air, and Dr. Ice Cream resumed her work. The wound looked well tended, despite the signs of infection; the bandage was indeed expertly applied, though clearly done in haste, the work of someone who had more basic and hasty training in medicine than a physician. Still, it would do the job. It reminded the doctor of someone used to dealing with little to no supplies, like in combat, or war. Though done, it was not a clean precise sort of care Bubblegum had received. The outer edges had been ignored, obviously, but the center of the wound, well… it had been handled. The experience the doctor was thinking of, though off the top of her head, alarmed her greatly.

"Princess… are you sure you're the one who wrapped this injury…?

Bubblegum lay flat again, and silence fell. It was only a couple of moments, but the princess seemed to be struggling to keep her cool. Her free hand was balled into a fist, and her lips had tightened into a very macabre, serious, unbending displeasure. Her head even shook a little, oh so slightly, as if to say, 'I cannot believe you asked that.' This, the princess had always been a master of. Even as a child, she used to receive disciplinary whacks on her hands for rolling her eyes and making those around her feel utterly stupid. It had been a long time, years even, since that side of her emerged for everyone to see.

Bubblegum finally opened her mouth to answer, though the question had almost dissipated from the room. "Does my treatment change depending on the answer I give?"

Dr. Ice Cream breathed out through her nose, trying not to react the way she did when the princess was young. Bubblegum was a woman, not a child. She no longer had the power to correct and modify. Now she was growing frustrated. The woman in charge of her kingdom was acting, quite frankly, like a spoilt child who believed themselves to be the most important. The way she had looked at her, as if her doctor was a lout who had the brains of a sewage worker…

But what was to be done? A child could learn. A woman could only suffer. Hadn't her old grandmother said something like that?

"Of course not, princess," she answered as set to cleaning the wound, "of course not."

The silence that followed turned the reply into an arrow that pierced through Bubblegum's chest, shredding the muscle, splitting bone. Shame crept deeper into her heart, fueled by these secrets and lies that she was heaping on her servants. Even now, she recalled that she didn't come down to see Dr. Ice Cream just to see that her leg was tended to. Bubblegum wearily lifted her head, and her body followed. It was the motion of a zombie, a lifeless husk with weary muscles that went on even when she had vacated. As she sat on the examination table, the princess also felt uneasy about the good doctor's proximity to her waist.

She was afraid… afraid of the truth, afraid like a child hiding a sin between her teeth.

Bubblegum had no way of knowing that in that moment, the doctor and the patient shared a vision. They both saw her as a child, tiny and learning. She felt the strain of an indiscretion, the heavy burden of knowing she would get in trouble if found out. Their eyes met again. And though it was immature, Bubblegum wanted more than anything to be a child again. To have the secret ripped out, because children are no good at hiding secrets, and parents, guardians, they always forced the truth. Perhaps, the truth and it's responsibilities could be taken from her, even now. But even though she wished it, the moments passed, and the doctor sat her up, giving her permission to leave.

Bubblegum slipped out of the door, heavy in her heart. And Dr. Ice Cream stared away as she left, not allowing herself to remark that the dark shadow on the wall, when leaving, seemed impossibly small. Fragile, with all the potential in the world to make or break history. The return walk was maybe the most troubling one she'd ever had to carry herself through. Each ginger little step, each echo of her softly shoed feet as they tapped on the rock candy floor matched the dreadful beat of her heart, pounding in her head as her fear grew into a monster. Fear… what a miserable bitch her fear had become. A mind as strong as hers should be able to prune fear from the garden as easily as any weed. But this weed, it had rooted deep, and its barbed stem had grown strong from the chaos of her broken heart. The door stood before her, mocking that fear as she could do nothing but muster her strength, strength enough to raise a lithe hand and undo the latch.

This was, without a doubt, the most messed up situation Princess Bubblegum had ever been in.

She slipped back into the bedroom, matching with the flicker of the candle flame. She pressed her back to the door and breathed in, not quite stable enough to hold her poker face. She ran a hand through her gummy locks and composed herself as a curious head popped out of the bathroom, checking to make sure it was actually her. This simple act reminded her a bit of Goliad, while the little sphinx had been in the making. The curious act of a frightened animal. It was almost enough to make her chest hurt, if she were the sort of person who could feel that innate amount of sympathy. But it was the way he checked, making sure that he would do as she said and not reveal himself to anyone else, it was dumb and trusting and…loyal. Still, she could not feel the tug of emotion that someone more compassionate could. Bubblegum had never been that girl, which was a shame, because she felt as if those skills would come in handy for the next thing she would ultimately demand.

"You listened," she breathed out, the only thing she could think to say in the cold silent room. "That's good."

The Finn who had been holding her hostage kept his gaze straight at her, even as he left the bathroom. "Of course. I'd listen to you, no matter what." It was the way he said it that made her fight a shudder. Though the words, said by anyone else, would have been sturdy and thoughtful and maybe even sweet. But under his gaze, they seemed threatening. Creepy, like moss molding over rocks to swallow them whole. Princess Bubblegum strayed to her dresser, and felt an unbelievable spike in danger as the Finn who was not Finn was suddenly behind her. Before she could react in an appropriate way, she felt his hand on her back.

Bubblegum whirled around. "Stop." She said, unable to put a lid on her feelings for the hot angry flame that had suddenly bloomed like a bouquet in her chest. "Don't touch me, without my permission. Your hands just…" in a frustrated matter, her own hands sliced at the air. "They don't stop. I need you to stop. Stop touching me. Stop touching me, at all!" She shoved him back to emphasize how uncomfortable she was, to show that she could not bear one more minute with his wandering hands which he thought showed affection. She could feel his presence as he stumbled back, and the lack of space between them was suffocating still.

She was not prepared for the look that spread across Finn's face that looked as if he had been shot.

"Okay," he said, but his face was the look of someone who had lost something precious. "Okay. Sorry."

Princess Bubblegum made sure to breathe, two deep inhales and wary exhales. "You just can't." She offered, instead. "You know what you did. I don't have to _tell_ you what that does. You just can't, okay? At least ask. Can you do that?"

He nodded. "I understand, Princess." A long while went by, and as Bubblegum sat on the edge of her bed, Finn began to nervously fidget. "You went to the doctor, right?" His eyes darted to her bandages. "How are they? The injuries?"

Bubblegum stared back at him, with eyes that were searching. There was something that was unnaturally infuriating about this character she had come to know. When he was not shaking or carrying the air of death, he seemed like a sensitive infant, and when he was not a sensitive infant he seemed like the shell of a walnut, hard and protected. She could not predict which side of FInn would come next. There was no pattern. Even now, when she wanted to ask him to reveal more about himself, she was not sure of the reaction. If she was lucky, she might get the infant. Worse case scenario, she'd get the angry Finn.

"I don't want you to worry about that." She answered, finally. "I want you to not think about that."

"I can't help it," He stood like an oak, awkward but straight forward. "I worry about you. I always have." Princess Bubblegum did not respond, she did not know how, but her eyes fixed toward the window. Finn waited awhile, struggling with something in his head. "Princess?"

"Yes Finn?"

"Can I…um…sit next to you?" He was asking as if he was a toddler who normally knew he couldn't have a cookie after dinner, but still asked out of sheer hope that the answer would change, this one time.

She concluded there was no reason to tell him no. "Okay." It was the resign of someone who was caught in a loophole, but the scarred boy neither seemed to know or care. He plopped himself on the bed roughly, to the point where the two people in the room were only the span of a hand away from touching.

"Is this okay Princess?"

"It's _fine._"

Perhaps it was the minute of silence that followed that only had her previous words, filled with distaste but understanding, that caused the next scene of events. Bubblegum sat to herself, staring at her fists in her lap, thinking about what she would have been doing if this Finn had not come and disrupted her. Perhaps she'd be in her lab, undergoing a major project that would have come to her in the middle of the night. It is quite possible that she'd be in the Ice Kingdom, but she would be eagerly awaiting the footsteps of a lazy magical dog and a zealous boy, playing hero. Maybe she would poke her head out the window on such an ordinary day and see Marceline, undoubtedly up to no good, and maybe they would even share banter. There were so many things, things she wanted to do, things she wanted to experience again.

"Princess?" Finn piped up, and when she looked at him she saw he was mimicking her downward expression from earlier. "Will you…um. I mean, I know you don't _want _me here…"

"It's complicat-"

"No, it's not. I get it." Despite the grim subject, his voice was light and easy to hear. "I'm not _supposed _to be here. I won't say that I don't belong here, because I do. This is the world I have been dreaming of, since I lost it in all that bazonk business." It was so odd for her to hear the brief flashes of vocabulary that she knew, by ear, were Finn the Human's and had always been his. But this other Finn, well, Bubblegum could not fathom why but it was endearing to hear that in a world she suspected had the horrors beyond the realm of the dead, flashes of the old Finn had stuck. Resilient, trying, fighting to stay inside. He caught the small start of her smile, and rubbed the back of his neck. "But Princess, I intend to make sure this world stays perfect."

"You can't _do that_." The words came before she could stop them. And even as she faced him they kept pouring forth, untameable. "You can't withhold my life on the premise that I might _die _without you."

It happened in a blink, and even if she had been trained in the art of fighting she could have never developed reflexes fast enough to avoid the hands that grabbed the outside of her arms and squeezed hard, a vice grip pulling her slowly forward. Princess Bubblegum looked down in shock, but her forehead landed softly on the forehead of another. A second passed, then two. And she could hear his breathing, struggling, battling something she could not see. She wondered what he was thinking, what he was _seeing. _

The heat from his skin, compared to the cool composure of her candy skin, was a very odd combination.

"You don't _get it_, Princess," His voice took on a different tone. What was once an easy melody to follow and listen was now dour and sounded unbearably restrained. The grip tightened on her arm, she felt his temples pulse from the force of a clenched jaw and eyes shut tight. "It's got to be the same, in every world. In any world. And you don't _get it. _When you die, so does everything else!" He was shaking now, and not the frightened spasms of a child, but a deep rooted trembling, the permanent poisoning of something that was once fresh, and whole, but now, despite it's best effort, was _rotting, _even if he didn't know it.

And Bubblegum, with all her knowledge and understanding of quantum physics, could do nothing as his shoulders shook, and tears fell. _I am just so happy, _she thought she heard, though it was so quiet, _that I can save you, here. _

He continued to cry, obviously deep in sorrow, experiencing what must have been violent, horrifying. But she kept her stance, unable and refusing to comfort. She had never been, after all, the kind of person who could help here. And for whatever it was worth in her mind, she did not think that the other Bubblegum, no matter what had happened to her and no matter what she had become, would want her to pretend as if she could be that kind of person. As Finn, well, _this _Finn, cried long and soft, until it became more like woeful wails, carrying over the room, faintly heard by a few royal helpers who passed by.

Though they heard it, and deep down they knew it was not their princess crying, they did not enter past the wide pink doors. The sound kept them away, though it should have been the sign for them to come in. There is something about hearing raw agony that the soul knows to stay away from. That sort of negativity, the overwhelming damage, it was not something one knows how to handle.

They turned away from the pain.

It was an understandable response.

* * *

_Earlier, in the Princess's Chambera_

She held his head still, pressed into her chest, feeling his hot breath even through her gown. He shuddered, and here and there Bubblegum swore the last of sobs escaped him. Perhaps she was wrong, after all, to press him about the scars he bore… they were connected very deeply to a wound in his psyche, and that wound, that emotion bent out of shape, more or less explained this Finn's dark, twisted idea of love. Challenging that made him something of a simpering boy… a simpering boy who was slowly coming to grips with the world again, as he gripped the back of her gown gently and breathed in the scent of her body. The sweet scent of bubblegum… his breathing calmed, and with one last, tight hug, Finn released his grip and leaned away from her body. She let his head pull away and smiled with a soft sense of comfort as he leaned back into his chair. She looked him in the eye for a moment, making sure he was well, not wanting to leave him in a broken state, before returning to her questions.

"Okay," Bubblegum began with a sigh, "do you feel better?"

He nodded, "yeah. Yeah, I'm better now. That was just… it was hard…"

"Do you think you're all done talking? Is there anything else you wanna talk about?"

"I…"

She tilted her head and waited patiently. It was clear from his trepidation that he was wrestling with something in his head, but what? The princess had a vague idea what it might be, but she wanted to make sure she wasn't trespassing. He had to invite her, she had to have permission to ask her next question.

"Princess," he said quietly, so quietly that it was barely audible, "I think… I think I know what you're gonna ask."

"Oh?"

"You can ask me…"

"Okay Finn," she whispered as she returned to her vanity chair, "I want you tell me whatever you feel you can about how you ended up alone."

He closed his eyes, and tears faintly rolled free from the slits. Yes, he knew that was what she would ask. It only made sense. What happened to the rest of his friends, that he should fall into Flame Princess's hands without any hope of rescue? Thinking about that, though, was extremely painful. He sat silently for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"Finn, it's okay," she interrupted, "you don't have to. We can talk about that later."

"No! I… I have to. And she… Lady deserves for someone to know."

Princess Bubblegum felt a terrible chill in her spine as he said that. Maybe it was that it sounded so foreboding. Maybe it was that as he said it, he lifted his head and opened his eyes to look directly into hers. Hard to say, really. She gave him a look that told him, once more, that he could stop if he wanted. He shook his head and sighed a sigh that sounded eerily like a choked sob.

"Me, Lady Rainicorn, Marceline, and the Ice King… we tracked down the Lich's biggest, strongest, nastiest monster. It was you… or, the you he turned you into. "

_The twisted creature's head lifted violently to see them. It had long since decayed from its large monsterous form thanks to their effort previously. And yet, even knowing that they had cut it down to size, it was still grotesque when the creature split its wide lips and a tongue darted around, landing sloppily on its own cheek, which had a drop or two of its own blood. The sclera of her eyes, which had once upon a time been white and alive, were black with dark energy that allowed it to pseudo-breathe. The bare back muscles tightened, and the creature broke its limbs in a horrible mess of sound and visual corruption to turn and face them. The bones snapped back to what looked most correct, but the air was thick with the disgusting motion. _

_The tongue flew back between sharpened teeth. What had once been a beautiful maiden slumped forward, hair falling so that only one dead eye was able to show. "Your pain pain pain pain," It hissed. "You. Alive. Devour."_

_Finn looked down to see a little candy girl, mouth open in a silent scream, the feeding interrupted. Her head caved at the top, open and exposed, eyes wide and face begging to be taken out because the pain surpassed any limit a being should have to endure. The moment he registered it, Finn knew that the vault would not hold this image. Even then, he knew he would see this girl, again and again, imprinted on his very core, forced to remember, without fault. When it came to this, memory did not matter nearly as much as the amount of shattering evil he was witnessing, here and now..._

"Once he was done with your body, he jumped out and started working on a new one. But he left your body, that big dead thing, to run around Ooo and keep killing anything it found." Finn took only a moment, seeing the little candy girl even now, lying on the floor. "He made it so that it would eat anyone it came across, and they'd fall out of a hole in its stomach, turned into zombies. It was… Glob, it was awful to see. But the four of us decided to stop it. Because we knew it wouldn't stop on its own. And because we knew it was… it was what you would want, for us to destroy it, your body."

_"Marceline," Finn breathed, looking at the creature who licked candy flesh from its teeth. "Is there anything we can do?"_

_The vampire did not answer, watching the creature, who seemed content with lapping up the blood that came when they cut it back down to a manageable size. Then without warning, the neck snapped, so that it could look at her, specifically. Marceline flinched, but did not seem so bothered as the Ice King, who began mumbling in nervousness. They stared at each other for a long time, the creature and the vampire. Then, what was once Bonnibel lifted an enlarged arm with massive claws, and reached behind to grab the rest of the girl's candy brains. It had a handful, and giggled sludge as the girl, unable to take it anymore, screamed an agonizing scream before her eyes went blank and her body limp. _

_"No," Marceline whispered back. "It's been too late for a long, long time."_

"It took days… but we finally managed to find and corner it. We pushed it to the Candy Kingdom. Or what… what used to be the Candy Kingdom. It stomped around the ruins, breaking anything left to be broken. We spent a whole night and day just fighting it there, and finally its body went down and stayed down."

_Finn cried. _

_The body stunk from rot and puss and blood. And yet, the face, no longer twisted into a sadistic and evil skeleton face, seemed almost human. This is what made the tears fall for him, because her hand, claws and all, had fallen open to the world, the faintest traces of original pink still remaining. He cried over her body, he cried over Jake, he cried over the little girl who had later slumped up and wandered the earth, gaze empty but malicious for its lack of life. He cried for the Candy Kingdom, which had been an institution of cute people, pink clouds, bubbles, birthday parties, and ultimate niceness. He cried for the girl he loved, whose insides were open and bones protruding from her stomach. _

_But that was not all he cried for. _

_He cried because, in that moment, he could not describe the guilt he felt at the insane happiness…that had come when she finally, painfully, resistantly, fell to her own death. He cried because when the monster fell, and a peony of blood bloomed to cover his shirt, he had been grinning._

"That stupid dresser. It fell on the side of the castle, knocked down the wall, opened up the inside. One of the rooms it opened up was your room, and your dresser fell down onto the pile of bricks and junk…"

He stopped to take a breath, and his whole body was overtaken by a deep shuddering. Bubblegum, eager to hear more, only let him rest his mind, heavy with the weight of this painful past and the burden of revealing it. And deep in his heart, Finn was more than grateful that she let him have a minute or two to breath, because it was torturing his mind to have to relive this. Finally, he resumed.

"Marceline… she looked so tired, that day. She was looking more and more tired, actually. It's kinda funny, I think. Not, like, actually funny, but dark funny. She's a vampire, and she's the one who looks like the life was sucked out of her. We beat the grave titan, but none of us were happy we did. Because there was the war. Everywhere around us, dead things were running around killing stuff, even any green grass that was left behind, just because it was alive. That's why I sent Lady up to look around from high up… I wanted to send Marceline, so that no one could see Lady's bright colors, but Marceline, she… she found something. It was your dresser. It broke open, and your clothes were all over the ground. She just floated there, looking at this one piece of clothing. A shirt. A black shirt, I'd never seen it before. Or since… I should've done something. I should've stopped it! I could've saved her! I could have done something!"

_"She kept it." Marceline's voice, once weary and drawn, was now pitched with awe and sadness. "She kept the shirt. I….I…."_

_Marceline touched it as if it were a rare artifact. Her cold dead fingers seemed so graceful in that one act, slender and long and filled with memories. Her eyes were watering, so she hid her face in a mass of hair. There was a feeling that Finn could guess, all of a sudden, though he didn't know what she knew. What was it like, to just start trying to feel alive again, only to watch it all die? What must it be like to witness this, in a way that means you see it all, but are removed from it? He couldn't guess, but he knew that her cool skin and lack of heartbeat didn't shield her from loss. _

Finn started sobbing as his eyes flooded and his breathing hitched. Clearly, whatever the crescendo was, he was drawing close to it, and as it neared, Finn slammed his fists against the arm rests and bit his lip. The princess only watched with deep interest; she felt nothing short of needing to know. He calmed down enough to look at her, and seeing her intrigue, he thought to himself that maybe he needed her to know too.

"Marceline started to cry. She held your shirt, that black shirt, in her hands and she wrung it tight and she cried. I don't think I've ever seen her cry like that, Princess!"

_Marceline rushed forward to hold the fabric close, crying out like an animal in capture. She rocked it, holding it close, and though he could not be certain, he could see her back rise and fall in a big inhale and exhale, as if she was smelling the scent of the last person to ever wear it. She was shaking, trying to disappear in the fabric. "I had no idea…I thought she hated this shirt. Hated…me…" Marceline bent forward, until she was small and curled like a fist, clinging to that shirt. "I always…I always thought I was just…bugging her. Like…I was something she had to tolerate, like I just caused her problems." Marceline straightened again and touched the design on the front, and that was when Finn realized that he had not been the only one to lose something dear. _

_"I alone," Marceline repeated, tears in her eyes, so many things left to wonder in her eyes. "Only me."_

_"What is that from?" Finn asked, trying to snap her out of it. _

_"Bons…she used to say that all the time. It was a poem or something, or maybe, it was so long ago. But when she was troubled, she used to repeat that line. 'I alone, only me.' I would actually make fun…"_

_The royal vampire fell silent. She stayed so for a much much longer time than someone who would continue on. _

_But then it fell again, those words, in rhythm, almost lyrical, timed. "I alone," Marceline repeated, her throat going raw from holding back tears. "Only me."_

Finn ran a hand through his hair, breathing heavily. She was sure now, he was seeing it all. "But… that's when it happened. That's where it went wrong. We shouldn't have let him help us… he was a crazy old fool! Never knew when to quit, to leave people alone! Ice King… he wanted the shirt Marceline was holding. He tried to take it from her! Stupid old man, didn't he see her crying? Didn't he figure out how important that shirt was? I did!"

_"SIMON! STOP! LET IT GO, SIMON!" Marceline was screaming, shaking her head wildly. "THIS IS MINE! THIS IS MINE!" _

_"Ah come on!" The old fool piped up, oblivious. "Just let me put it in my Bubblegum collection! Come on!"_

_Finn knew that if Lady were down on the ground with them, she would have fought to keep that shirt in Marcy's hands. He tried to help himself, tried to put it out there that the Ice King needed to stop. His words fell on deaf ears. His words would come to mean nothing at all…_

Finn held back a sob that threatened to come out. He stood from his seat, letting the pink towel that hid his lower body fall to the floor, voice cracking with anger and mind devoted to the story. Bonnibel could only distract herself by standing and raising her hands in an unthreatening way. She spoke in soothing tones.

"Easy, Finn, easy. It's okay. Just sit down, okay? It's alright."

"No," he whispered, "it's not alright. It's his fault. I should've killed him. Why didn't you let me?"

"Calm down, Finn. It didn't need to end like that." She thought and came to try another way. "Back here, this happens all the time and you might not remember but-"

"… You don't get it. It's his fault…"

Finn sat back into the chair, not caring about the towel bunched at his feet until it inconvenienced him. With a terse kick and a mean growl, he sent it away from him with great haste. Bubblegum too sat back down, wondering if this was where she should stop him. But no. He returned to the retelling.

"They fought over that shirt, princess, your black shirt. Ice King tried to rip it from her hands, and Marceline did everything she could not to let him have it. 'Let it go, Simon!' she screamed. I remember that clearly. She screamed so loud, so high… it meant everything to her. And it tore. It tore down the middle, and all I remember is her screaming again, top of her lungs, and crying because it was destroyed…"

_The shriek that followed were the things of ghost stories, of women trapped and forced to mourn forever._

_When she fell, Marceline did not get back up. She lay on her back, half of the shirt bunched in her hands, looking so small, looking so damaged. She lay there, unmoving, blinking slowly as if she were on a different, slower rate than the rest of the world. She stared at the ceiling above her, stared and stared while chaos reigned around her. It was though she had been put to sleep, and she would not disturb the blessing given. _

_But while things happened around her, her lips parted slowly, and she began to sing. Finn would hear it later, a brief moment. He would have no idea that she would have been singing it, then, for minutes and minutes and minutes. _

_"This is what they don't know…_

_This is what they don't see..._

_For I loved that pretty girl_

_And she loved me."_

Bubblegum sat still for a moment. "And then…"

Finn swallowed and continued on. "They both fell backwards, and Ice King… he's a terrible wizard. Can't control his magic. Never could. He fell back, and when his elbows hit the ground, a magic lightning bolt shot from his hand. It… it flew right up to her. Right up to Lady as she floated in the black sky, looking out for us. It's his fault… and it's my fault. If I had stopped them from fighting… or if I hadn't sent Lady up to spot for us. Or if I had done better to keep the Ice King from ruining everything…"

Was there anything more horrible than the chasm that opened when silence prolonged? Finn felt it too, and it prompted his words though he did not feel capable of saying them.

"Lady didn't even see it coming. That's the worst part, I guess. I had to watch her, and I yelled, I tried to get her to move, but… so fast. It happened so fast, Princess. What was I supposed to do? She got hit. She was frozen up in the air, and it was so weird to look at. She just floated there for a second, like nothing had happened. Then she fell… she was frozen in a big, jagged, block of ice, and she was falling. Lady just kept falling for what felt like forever, and I remember the sound it made when the ice block hit the first wall on the way down. It was the loudest thing I ever heard. It sounded like a mountain was splitting down the middle. Lady started spinning as she fell the rest of the way. I knew what was going to happen. We all did. She hit the ground… and she was dead. She broke into a million stupid pieces!"

_The pieces had pieces of her. _

_The pieces had pieces of her. _

_They were scattered like thousands of exploding stars. Frost hung heavy in the air for such tiny pieces. _

_Two quivering hands kept the time with their shaking._

He cried angrily and pulled his whole body into the fetal position, breathing fast and loud as he pressed his hands and knees to his head. The sound in his mind, the sound of the ice shattering, its smooth pieces skidding across the rubble-laden ground, and the sight of Lady Rainicorn's destroyed, frozen body all over. Lady, his last friend, his connection with Jake, his brother in name and brother heart. That was that. She _died_. And as Finn wept into his knees, he gasped remorsefully.

"It's all my fault… it's all my fault! Lady, I'm so sorry! I-I-I let you down! I let you die!"

"Finn, no!", Bubblegum was up and kneeling at his side in a moment's notice, "It's not your fault!"

"It is! It is, Princess!" His words were broken by the sound of crying, the chokes and coughs and sniffs of the sad pain he felt. And in time, his words faded away altogether, incoherent, self-hating gibberish taking up their space. She put hand on his shoulder to try to soothe him; it did little.

"Finn," she said as she tried to wrap her arms around him, though he seemed to chafe at the touch of her gown to his skin, "Finn, it's not your fault. It's not your fault."

He rocked about as she struggled to embrace him, though the fabric of her gown still served only to agitate him. He cried loudly as he shifted about in the chair; too loudly, really. It would be impossible to keep his presence from the others if he wasn't going to calm down. An idea occurred to her, and as she batted it around in her mind, she found she didn't really like it. And in the seconds that followed that idea, that idea she felt was bad, she found that she had no others. Damnable fate had coerced her; what good was free will if you had no real choices? She reached to the front of her gown and undid the buttons that belt it closed, and with a quiet, silken shift, the cloth was moved away, and only her bare flesh was left. And at that, Bubblegum again attempted to embrace the hysterical outsider. Though he shuddered and attempted to lean away from her, Finn was, this time, much more cooperative, letting the princess wrap her arms around him. Just the same, his sobbing display only somewhat diminished; she sought to remedy this by pulling him closer, pressing her now bare breasts against his ribs as she leaned in from his right side. The sensation of her flesh on his sent a shock up her body, and she screwed her eyes shut to keep calm and hold him tight. It was a slow, uncomfortable few minutes…

"Finn… it's alright."

The screams born of relived nightmare faded, the sobbing passed, and the violent rocking simmered into a steady, smooth pace that Bubblegum her self led. She leaned into him, and with some effort caused him to shift back and forth with her, granting a soothing motion that seemed to help him calm down. After a good five minutes, Finn breathed a deep, hitched breath, signaling that his fit was behind him. She relaxed her tired arms a bit, intending to stand up straight, correct her gown, and move on. But in an instant, his arms were around her, and Finn's face was buried in the crook of his princess's neck.

"Don't go…"

"Finn, I'm not…"

"Don't leave me too. Not again."

She felt the air he breathed out hot against her shoulder, and his fingers pressing strong but not harmfully into her back. Now her chest was practically rubbing against his. She didn't know what to think of that. Instead, the princess dwelled on his bidding her not to leave, quite specifically his voice when he said it. It was hollow, sad, defeated… just like him. Just like him, without her. He took another long breath, through his nose, taking in the scent of her skin, and sighed as he nuzzled deeper.

"Princess Bubblegum… I love you…"

"… I know you do." Bubblegum responded, and as she registered the details she could not before, she noticed how cold his bare skin had become. It seemed too cold to be him, frigid and spreading to her chest. He was so cool that touching him, well, resembled the sensation of being burnt. So though she stayed, her hands hovered, questioning and cautious, her mind careful of where she touched.

* * *

As Dr. Ice Cream mended the princess's leg, Bubblegum thought back on the events of only a couple hours ago. She wanted to ask. She needed to, honestly. Twice. He'd been inside her twice, the first time quite forcefully, quite painfully. The second time… she chose not to think too much on that, though choice, again, seemed to be a fool's errand. There was the other matter… that was an obsessive thought.

"Princess? I've finished the work on your leg."

"… Oh. So you have…"

She lifted her leg, tilting it so she could get a better look at it. Her physician had taken the liberty of grafting new candy tissue to fill the gaps, leaving the injury altogether nixed. Bonnibel ran her fingers lightly across the graft, the soft, new flesh, and the sensation was extremely soothing, altogether distracting…

"Princess? Is there something else you need?"

Tell her, she thought to herself, inner voice practically screaming. Tell her what happened. Tell her you need an exam. Just tell her. But she couldn't make herself do it. She hated herself for it, berated herself, but for all the negative feelings for not doing it, for all the rational reasons to break the secret wide open, Princess Bubblegum somehow found the shame too strong. Only she knew why. But, maybe… maybe she could solve this herself.

"Dr. Ice Cream… I seem to…"

"Yes, princess?"

"I seem to have lost track of my… my cycle. I'm curious if you might have that on record. I'm… I have some work regarding that."

"… Of course, dear."

She shuffled through some papers she had on her desk for a moment, passing time idly before turning to a filing cabinet in which she would find the requested data. Dr. Ice Cream thumbed through it with deliberate slowness, trying to eke out moment after moment with the intent of covertly influencing the princess to open up. What possible work could the princess need bio-cyclic information on? Was she experimenting on herself? Two very interesting questions, but not quite as interesting as the notion that she, her doctor, might not have that information. Of course Dr. Ice Cream had Princess Bubblegum's bodily cycle in her cabinet. This pointed toward one thing, and one thing alone. Whatever was bothering her matron, it was difficult to discuss, so much so that anything related to it seemed awkward in conversation. And she suspected she knew.

"Right here, your highness," she said as pulled a file from the mass. Even the withdrawal of the file was done so with patient languor. "May I ask-?"

"You may not."

Dr. Ice Cream closed her eyes and held her tongue, still facing away from the princess that she may hide her discontent. This situation made her feel bitter, quite unlike her confectionary self. Swallowing the anger, or at least enough of it to return to function, Dr. Ice Cream turned and walked quickly to the princess. She dropped the file on the table and looked the young woman in the eye. The young woman she'd taken care of, put all her heart and soul into for years, for whom she would do anything, who was now doing everything in her power to hide some terrible fate. Something that threatened her, and possibly the kingdom as a whole. It was difficult to abide that frustration.

"This is the information you requested. Further, your treatment is complete," she cold icily as she picked up the tray holding the bandages, "if you need anything else, Princess, you know where to find me."

And with that, the good doctor turned away from her patient and went about disposing of the bandages. Bubblegum sat on the cold table, holding in one hand the file, and in the other her shame. The shame was the heavier of the two burdens. In one soft motion, the princess found the floor and quietly, albeit it slowly and reluctantly, made her way from the exam room. At the door, Bubblegum rested her free hand on the door frame, stopping to look back. Dr. Ice Cream was busying herself with her work, or so it seemed. In truth, the doctor was only making herself look busy, instead more occupied with the distress Bubblegum had inadvertently passed to her. With a sigh, the princess left the room. In similar fashion, the doctor sighed and resigned herself to having been no help.

"That went poorly…"

She jerked around at the sound of Peppermint Butler's voice. He had slid into the room like some sort of horrid lizard, and his eyes seemed much the same, both facts which unnerved her. With another sigh, Dr. Ice Cream stepped away from her desk.

"She won't talk about it. Or him."

"I didn't expect her to," P. Butler said with a hint of grimness, "I was hoping, was all."

"Who is he, Peppermint Butler?"

"I'm under specific orders not to say."

"So," she said, again sighing pessimistically, "we're stuck with nothing."

"No," he replied, "we're not. I'm also under specific orders to find Finn and Jake. I intend to do just that. We'll root out the man in black with their help. I have to go take care of that now, doctor. Look after her in my absence."

He was back out the door as silently as he came in, though this time the doctor was less shocked and more unnerved. She sat back into her seat and sighed tiredly. What a day this had been.

Peppermint Butler, though he didn't say it, held the monopoly on the difficulties of the day. And if the princess felt shame, his could only be worse. He knew. He had taken to eavesdropping on his matron that morning. Ever since she shrugged him off this morning, P. Butler felt he needed more; the situation was so crucial, the princess was committed to hiding it. So, he stayed by the door, as close to his lady's side as possible. And the things he heard filled his dark heart with an even darker fury. After hearing those cries of agony, those sighs of sympathy, and those mews of physical delight, the part-time darkling brewed a plan in his bleak mind. He found himself just outside the door of the observatory, where all this started. Two Banana Guards awaited his return, chatting idly amongst themselves.

"Oh, P. Buts. There you are."

"You've been gone a while. Everything good?"

"No, gentlemen," he said with a quiet hate, "we need to root out a villain. But we'll need help, I think. He won't leave easy."

"Should we just get more guards?"

"We'll bring all the guards," he answered, "but we'll also be bringing Jake the Dog and Finn the Human. Come. We must leave now."

He led these two away with him, and the sound of their footsteps echoed faintly as they left behind the twin doors of the observatory and the storage room. Peppermint Butler stopped for a moment, looking back when he thought he heard a whisper.

"Did either of you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"… Hm," P. Butler muttered, "nothing I suppose. But has it always been this cold in here?"

The guards only peered at each other with curious eyes. Cold? Weird noises? Peppermint Butler always was the strange sort. When neither answered, the butler conceded that he couldn't find reason to believe there was a wrongness in the room. He turned to leave with his guards. He shouldn't have given up so easily. He should've followed his senses to the door. He should have opened it, glanced inside, looked into the surface of the Smoking Mirror, that dark device through which this twist of fate had marched into Ooo. He should have seen the tall, dark, slender shadow that stood in the pane of glass, uncast by anybody, glowering in the infinite gloom of the space between worlds.


	7. Identity Crisis

**Identity Crisis**

* * *

fSomething wasn't right. That's all he could think as he stared at the door. It stood some nine feet high, some combination of wood and candy, some bizarre construct born from inside Princess Bubblegum's mind. He took meager, patient steps toward it, and reaching a slow but brave hand to it, Finn touched his fingers onto the cool surface. It felt grainy on his digits, but beyond that nothing seemed beyond the ordinary about it. It was the same door as it always was. But still, something wasn't quite right. Maybe it was what he knew was on the other side, that bizarre mirror that worked like a door. Or maybe it was the fact that all around the door, where the walls of the castle should stretch in each direction, there was only the grey-scaled sky. Beneath his feet, not candy stone but a crystal beach rolling up and down into infinity. Finn leaned to either side, looking out behind the free-standing portal to see the silently roiling ocean. It was strange… as he looked around the door's frame he saw nothing but the icy blue water, splashing upon the granulated shoreline. Yet when he stood in front of the door, he knew, just plain knew, that something was on the other side. He raised a hand to open the door…

_"Don't open it."_

It was faint, like the tiniest whisper, but it was plain as day, carrying down from somewhere behind him. Turning around to face the speaker, Finn knew he'd see craggy mountains, and indeed there they were. They broke the monotony of the sky with no effort and the greatest of impact, towering over him, stretching almost angrily from the beach into the heavens above, stabbing into the grey above with rocks painted in gunmetal, blending into the sky as much as they perforated it. His weary eyes came to view a form on the slopes, a subtle and minor thing compared to the power of the mountains on which she stood.

Yes, just as Finn knew the rocky crags would be there, he knew this shadowed figure would be a she. He focused, stepped away from the door and toward the only other living thing in this foreboding place, peered at her, seeing her hair dancing in the silent breeze. She looked as if she had her hands clasped, as if she were pleading with him to heed her faint request. Yet he couldn't.

He turned back to the door, and pressing his hands to it. It opened to his push, grinding across the sand, filling the air with the intolerable sound of the tiniest rocks rubbing against one another in the thousands, in the millions. He knew he wouldn't like what he found. He didn't know it was going to be a boat. Strange… the very same boat he saw before. Confused, befuddled, and feeling a deep dread in his gut, Finn stared at the beached vessel, mind starving for an answer that it really just couldn't create. How could it? What context was there?

He blinked, and in that blink the vision changed; he saw himself there with the boat. Finn the Human was watching Finn the Human put his shoulder to the boat, push it slowly and painstakingly into the deep blue sea. And it was strange to watch this, not just because Finn wept as he pushed the boat, which was peculiar on its own, nor because the Finn that Finn watched was bleeding profusely from his right shoulder, the arm which extended from hanging black and useless… what was strange was that Finn felt he knew why he was crying. And it wasn't because of the obvious and likely fatal wound.

He woke in a cold sweat. All at once he was assaulted by the violence of waking from a nightmare; the room shuddered as his eyes adjusted from their state of sleep, his racing pulse still eager inside his head, pressing painfully against the back of his eye balls with each pump of the heart. His ears were awake with a cacophony of hisses and faint pops, as if gas were leaking from them. The dizziness and the auditory hallucinations passed in moments, but the sickening feelings of dread and wrongness… those were less ephemeral. And actually, Finn was reasonably sure he did hear a faint hissing sound. He looked around, and saw the princess's bathroom door was closed. He approached it silently as a cat and leaned against it. Through the candy wood he heard the distinct sounds of plumbing; she was showering. That made sense of the noise he heard as he woke from a nightmare plagued nap, but he vaguely recalled her saying she was going to take a shower. And not to open the door. Well, that explained that part of the dream, at least. He must have only been sleeping for a few minutes… it seemed a shame that he was having trouble sleeping again, after the last couple of restful nights.

Finn was on his feet without wanting to be, and his feet moved him to the window, where his tired eyes beheld the city below, and the great green world expanding out from the outer walls in all directions. So beautiful… that's all he thought as he looked out there; what a wonderful world this was. So, when the perfect expanse of green was marred with the silent figures of two Banana Guards, yellow forms contrasting vividly against the grasslands, and a smaller, nearly unidentifiable little man leading them along. Finn stared hard, but from this distance, it was altogether too hard to tell who it was. … No. No, he knew who it was. And tracing a line from the the three figures out into the sea of green, Finn saw a lonely tree was to be their destination. It made him frown, dashed away the joy of seeing his beautiful world, replaced it with the ugliness of bitter, smoky hate. He turned from the window with a hasty pace, feet taking him now to the pile of equipment in the corner of the room.

* * *

"Hey, Peppermint Butler, whatcha' looking at?"

He stared at the castle as he was asked that, but P. Butler didn't break his gaze until he was sure he no longer saw what he was sure he saw. From this distance, one couldn't hardly see the window that he stared at, but it wasn't a window or even anyone who might be behind it that the minty manservant looked at. It was a darkness, a writhing, snaking, smoky oblivion just waiting in the wings. That shadow he felt as they left… it seemed present even now. Through his eyes, it looked like it stretched from the castle into the huge ceiling of the sky. But then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

"P. Buts?"

"Nothing," he answered tersely, "nothing. But… we need to hurry."

He turned about on his steed, a curious ostrich-like creature of Candy Kingdom stock. It was the best way to insure his tiny legs could get from A to B with the guards, similarly mounted, as they rode together toward the tree house on the edge of the kingdom. Peppermint Butler rode ahead of the others with a gentle kick of his feet, spurring the beast of burden along. The guards with which he traveled watched him as he lurched ahead, and they exchanged curious glances.

"Is PepperB acting weird?"

"Yeah, I guess. But he's kinda weird anyway…"

"No you dummy, weirder than normal."

Being asked that, the Banana Guard simply shrugged, which inspired his partner to shrug as well. They spurred their mounts, and soon took off after Peppermint Butler as he rode over the grasslands. It wouldn't be too long before they got to Finn and Jake.

The other Finn, the man in black, in the mean time had made his appearance again. Fully armed and armored, he threw open a door leading from a high tower to a high, crenelated wall that ran alongside the castle. He followed the walkway until he happened to see a tall building a short distance away from the wall. Finn stepped close to the side and peered down to the street below; a good fifty foot drop followed by a mean, sudden stop. His masked eyes then glanced to the building he spied as he ran along the wall, a residential structure standing some three stories high. The street below was separating the two structures… it would be one hell of a jump. And without a second thought, without pondering if maybe it would be just so much easier to walk down the stairs, Finn took a running start, mounted the edge of the wall, and took one mighty leap, spanning the avenue below and, just barely tumbling on the roof of the residence across the gap. It seems that no matter the world or the anguish, Finn had an incurable addiction to acrobatics.

Smirking now, Finn stood and took to running across the roof tops of the Candy Kingdom, not heeding the gasps and awe filled cries of the onlookers below as he made his way to the outer wall.

* * *

_The Tree House_

Finn walked ahead a pace, lost in tired thought and head still topped with the miner's hard hat. He was covered in dirt and bruises, the marks of a meaningful adventure, and though his body and mind together were eager for a good old fashioned black out, he felt in his heart that mote of satisfaction that always comes with a job well done.

Jake, who trailed behind by a pace of about twenty, felt instead a deep, unrelenting, sour fatigue. That, and the mess of twenty pound clumps of freshly mined blackstone he hauled back from the abandoned mine. When no loot was to be found in the dungeon in question, he took steps to ensuring the trip wasn't some pointless exercise for him. Blackstone was once a high-priced commodity… it might still be good for something. He'd ask PB later. For the time being, the two hundred pound load was beginning to take its toll, even with Jake's body warped into much larger, load-bearing proportions. Jake's breathing was heavy, and his steps were getting slower. Finn stopped and turned to look back.

"Yo man, you good?"

"Yeah," Jake sighed as he stopped and dropped his body to the ground with a loud, stony thud, "I'm just… kinda tired is all."

"Dude, just drop that junk off here. It's just a bunch of rocks."

"No man, we aren't goin' home without swag. We did our crawl, we won our encounter, the blackstone's the only loot we got."

Jake took to struggling to lift his sagging, rock filled belly again, grunting and gasping unhappily as the mass proved time and again too difficult to move. He looked up ahead to the tree house… it couldn't have been a hundred yards out, but there it stood, taunting him just the same. Finn frowned mildly and shook his head.

"Whatevs man. I'm going to bed. I'll see you when you get there."

He turned and resumed his leisurely stroll. As he distanced himself from the struggling pug, Finn found himself taking in only the gentle sounds of the grass underfoot and the birds over head. It was good to be home; with a gentle push on the door, he found the glittering entry way that was the treasure room and house antechamber awaiting him. He stepped lightly and took the hard hat from his head, tossing it to a nearby pile of loot and sending idle coins cascading to the floor. Without a look back, Finn took to the ladder up, letting his body do the rest of the work until he found himself face down on his bed. That was where he stayed until a noise disturbed him: a sharp knock on the door bottom side. His eyes shot open, and with a short groan of frustration Finn pushed himself off his bed, meandering slowly to the ladder.

"Jake? Yo, someone's at the door."

No response. Jake must not have made it back yet. … Wait, was he only up here for a minute before someone came knocking on his door? That's annoying.

"Ugh… BMO, hey, will you-?"

"Finn," his companion computer called up from below, "it is Peppermint Butler. It sounds important."

"What…?"

He slid down the ladder in a rush, landing hard on his feet and grunting, but not pausing before walking hastily to the next ladder down to the antechamber. He didn't need to make the trip though, as Peppermint Butler had climbed up from below, and was followed by the Banana Guards he had brought as escort. BMO lurked just behind, peering at the guests with a timid look.

"Peppermint Butler, what's going on? Is PB alright?"

"No, Finn," he answered calmly, though that was clearly just a show of restraint, "we need you to hurry and come with us. … Where's Jake?"

Face down in the grass, Jake breathed tired, air-hungry gasps. He had collapsed some distance from the tree house a while ago, weighed down still by the unearthed ore he so desperately wanted to add to the pile. But the work was hard, too hard really; he lifted his head from the perpetual lawn and gazed at his home, and now that he had made it within twenty feet of the tree house, he was content to let it go. With a heavy sigh, Jake unfolded his magical rolls and let the load of blackstone spill to the ground. His warped body deflated as the rock fell away from him, until at last he breathed in total relief and walked away from his troubles.

"Finn! Hey, Finn, you awake? Can you make some spaghetti or-? … What the heck?"

Jake scratched behind his ear as he encountered the three steeds that had come here fast from the Candy Kingdom. Must've been guests. Bleh, even thinking about it was exhausting. So much so that he had to sit down; he walked to the nearest log and plopped down on it with an unceremonious grunt. Facing the door, Jake yawned and scratched his ear again, eager to conquer the errant each that had appeared out of nowhere. The itch… it wasn't the only thing that felt off right now. The timing of the guests, who were definitely from the Candy Kingdom also seemed weird. Plus, there was this hint of something in wind, a vague scent that mixed together three distinct odors. Sweat, the kind that comes from running full speed across open stretches. Smoke, such that rises from a burning forest. And something else… something dark and unpleasant, something that stank like a catacomb. Jake sniffed loudly with his curious nose, glancing left and right, up and down in search of the source of this strange mixture.

"What is that?"

The air suddenly seemed heavy, and the magic dog didn't like it in the least. Bad smells were one thing, but otherworldly wrongness was an intolerable other issue. The birds stopped singing, the wind almost went chilly for a moment, and Jake was struck with the urge to turn around.

"… Jake?"

"Finn," Jake looked up at the doorway. It was still shut tight, and not one of the windows was open. "What the heck?"

"Jake, is… is that you?"

The sense of dread spiked when the sound of a foot hitting grass struck Jake's ear drums, who turned around expecting to see his bro sneaking around and playing tricks. His eyes instead met the grim figure of a man in black, face hidden by the awful, skeletal visage of a long ago slain grizzly bear. Jake's eyes narrowed and his lips curled as he took a step back.

"Hey man, keep your distance and tell me what you want!"

"Jake," answered back the mysterious figure, "it's me. It's Finn."

Raising a hand to his mask as he stepped forward, Finn lifted up the front of the bear's skull, showing his dumbstruck and scar-decorated face. It was a singly sobering experience for the both of them.

* * *

"Wait, I don't get it," Finn said tiredly as he pressed his eyes with thumb and forefinger, "so, what happened? Tell it slower."

Peppermint Butler's eye's were narrowed in frustration; what wasn't to get? The princess was in trouble, he needed to come save the day. Maybe it was the nature of the problem that was complicating the narrative. Maybe Finn just wasn't ready to talk about elsewheres coming into contact with each other, and errant other Finns bursting through the walls of the worlds. Yeah, that might have been the issue.

"Finn, it really doesn't matter. You need to come with us right now!"

"If the princess is in trouble, how come you're here? Why didn't she just call us or something? That's what she does."

"Enough fool!" Peppermint Butler shouted back, "We have to go now!"

"Fine man," Finn answered with a yawn, and a hint of frustration, "lemme just grab my-."

"Finn! Finn, get out here!"

Panicked shouting from the front lawn had garnered the attention of all inside; Jake seems to have run afoul of trouble. Rushing to the nearest window, Finn peered out to find the source of the problem. No giant monsters, which was good news. But what in the world was happening to Jake? He seemed to be wrestling with some ugly zombie-looking knight. … Wait, no. That wasn't what wrestling looked like.

"Who the plop is that…?" Finn asked with an angry frown.

"Let me see," Peppermint Butler said as he clambered to the window sill. His breath hitched when he saw the blackguard below, "oh no… he followed us here! Guards, take him!"

"Hold on Jake," Finn yelled out through the glass as he sprung for his backpack and great sword. Donning both, he rushed back to the window and dove into it, breaking through the glass in a hasty charge. He fell to the ground in a smooth tumble rolling once before rising from a kneel. He looked now at the attacker, a young man about his height dressed in black who clutched Jake to him in his scarred, muscular arms.

"Hey," Finn barked angrily, "let him go!"

Finn, the other Finn, had indulged himself in hugging his long lost best friend as tightly as possible, pressing his face against Jake's fur covered body. Jake, meanwhile writhed and wriggled and shouted in a bid to escape the unwanted touching. When the familiar Finn made his dramatic appearance, Jake smiled, and the doppelgänger opened his eyes and stared at the Finn he recognized from so long ago. It was like looking to a memory, seeing that hat and backpack, those blue clothes… it was wholly overwhelming, to the point that the visitor from the other world could only stare at himself, mouth agape, and let Jake slowly escape from his weakening clutch. Once free, the dog sauntered over to his friend's side.

"You good Jake?"

"Yeah man…"

Finn nodded, then looked at his other, whom he didn't yet recognize has himself, and the intruder that Peppermint Butler had warned him about. Speak of the devil, the manservant and his escort made the scene. Finn, despite his lassitude, felt quite confident with the Banana Guards at his side. Fists clenched defiantly, he glowered at the mysterious warrior.

"Tell us who you are! And if you hurt the princess, I'm gonna' break your face!"

He didn't answer. But his face did distort into an angry frown as Finn raised his hand and lowered the bear skull. He stood silent as Finn growled at him, to wanting to move until he was sure he could even the odds somehow. Peppermint Butler would take initiative, however.

"Guards," he said as he took a step forward, "arrest him! Use as much force as you need to!"

"Yeah," one started.

"Okay," the second finished.

Brandishing their spears, the Banana Guards casually approached their intended arrestee. One could suppose that he wasn't running because they would probably just chase him down and catch him anyway; where was there to run to out here? What they couldn't have guessed was what was running through the hostile's mind. Being the simpleminded executors of the law, they would never be able to. As they grew close, they made the error of not taking their jobs quite as seriously as they ought to; the moment was now. With lightning speed, Finn the Mortal reached to the hilt of his sword, and with a twist and a click, he pulled the enormous blade from his back, scabbard still in place on the heavy weapon.

"Guys lookout!" Finn shouted with all his voice.

Too little too late, unfortunately, as the blackguard fluidly swung his sheathed blade at the nearest guard's feet, catching him in the swipe and effortlessly tripping him. He fell to the ground with a loud oomph, his back striking the ground and forcing all the air from his lungs. The other guard readied himself, swinging his spear about to menace the attacker and get him to submit. Without missing a beat though, Finn swatted the tip of the spear away with his free hand and lunged forward head first, smashing the banana guard's face with his heavy helmet, staggering the unsuspecting officer of the law before Finn swung his great sword and smote the guard in the side of the head. He fell to the ground like a wilted flower just as the first guard was met with a vicious punch to the face, properly incapacitating him. The victor in this short-lived scuffle, Finn stood tall and confident once more, swinging his sword back around to his back and locking the bandage wrapped sheath back into the holster on his backplate. He smirked behind his mask.

"Whoa," Jake said solemnly, "dude, you're mean."

"What?" Finn asked quizzically as he peered at Jake, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"Finn," P. Butler interrupted, "that's you. Finn from the Smoking Mirror. Finn the Blackguard."

He dropped his fists to his side. It hadn't sunk in when Peppermint Butler was telling the story, but maybe that was just because he didn't want to think too hard.

"Jake," he began, puzzled and unsure, "this is too weird. That isn't me. Look at him, that isn't me."

"It's you, Finn," Jake and P. Butler said in unison. It unsettled the boy, just as it unsettled his dark counterpart, who could be heard growling as the conversation carried on. Sensing his bro's discomfort, Jake patted him on the back and spoke reassuring words.

"Don't worry man," Jake said calmly, "you got this."

After swallowing the lump in his throat, Finn nodded and took a few steps forward. He realized something, standing there beneath those azure skies and atop the emerald hill on which stood his home. His uncertainty faded, replaced by the cool, liquid flow of confidence through his veins, because he knew the reason why. There was nothing to be afraid of here. Maybe the man in black was Finn, but it still wasn't Finn. There was no reason to fear, because he, the Finn that was certainly Finn, was the better man. That's what he always chose to believe. Puffing out his chest and narrowing his eyes, Finn growled and leered at his foe.

"I don't know what you did. But you're busted, and I'm sending you packing!"

"Shut up!"

Finn's confidence broke momentarily. It wasn't what he said that shook the boy to the core, but the voice that projected the words. It startled him because Finn, the Finn who was not him, was… it was frightening because it made the boy question his world. He didn't know the way to describe it, this identity crisis he was suffering through. The dark Finn lowered his body and reached his right hand to his sword.

"You don't deserve Ooo," the doppelgänger hissed, "and you don't deserve her!"

He broke into a run, charging swift and sure and full of silent aggression. As rapid as a bolt of lightning, the dark Finn was in striking distance of his unscarred other self, and the air was filled with the sound of steel pulling against leather. Bringing his black blade down to bifurcate his opponent, Finn growled in frustration when his sword struck the blood red metal of another great sword. The clashing of the metal echoed loudly across the field, and for a moment's time the pair seemed locked together by their weapons, grinding the steel against steel in a wrestling match with a deadly outcome. Finn, still fatigued from a long walk up and down a mountain and a poor night's rest, shook noticeably at the pressure he found pitted against him, and he didn't see it, but there was a smile playing across the lips of his adversary.

"Feeling weak already?"

"Shut up! I'm just getting started!"

Finn faltered a bit, intentionally, breaking free of his opponent's blade and letting the edge strike the ground as he pivoted about; he took the purchased moment to swing his weapon about, aiming for the center plate of his double's armor. But as quickly and uncannily as Finn had previously blocked the first swing, he found himself smashing against the blackened sword once more. As the two held fast against each other this time, though, the darkling Finn clutched his hilt tighter, and the sword came alive with searing flames. He pushed forward with his burning brand, and finding that the less armored, less rested version of himself was easy to push around, decided to press the attack.

"I'll say it again," the blackguard started, swinging his great sword with equally great gumption, "you don't deserve her!"

The weapon sang through the rippling air, threatening to cut Finn down the middle with each blow. He was forced back again and again by a seemingly endless volley of attacks, each thankfully blocked by a reflex twitch of his own sword, each one getting more and more forceful, causing Finn's grip to weaken and his stance to fall apart. Sensing this, the twisted reflection brought to bear a swift upward swing, catching Finn's sword underneath and sending it upward. Though Finn held to his weapon with one hand, he was far from being in a suitable position to shield himself from the downward swing of the flaming great sword as it came down towards his skull. But before the blow could strike true, Finn found himself saved as his doppelgänger was knocked off his feet by the sudden intrusion of an overlarge fist. The boy in black bounced across the ground once or twice before coming to a stop, separated from his sword by a few feet. He lifted himself from the ground and tilted his helmet up to reveal his shocked face. Jake, meanwhile, was pulling his own Finn to his feet.

"You good man?"

"Jake," he answered calmly, "yeah, I'm good."

The other Finn, seeing this, thinking about what just happened, felt something give. He felt his blood freeze for the first time in days, the first time since he set foot on this miracle beyond the mirror. Truth be told, this Finn imagined he could somehow make this world his own, a surrogate in countless ways to nurture him the way he deserved. He imagined himself walking barefoot across fresh, living grass. He imagined himself sitting beside friends and loved ones again, convincing himself that it was all just a nightmare, a bad dream he felt stretched on from one end of eternity to the other, and he'd merely had to wake from it. Seeing Jake made his heart flutter with the hopes of that ideal… and feeling Jake slam him so unsympathetically was easily the worst feeling in the world. Yes, something snapped. It was this Finn's hope.

"Jake," he whispered almost silently as tears fell across his cheeks, but they were quickly hidden as he pulled his mask back into place. He climbed back to his feet and took up his sword once more.

"I still got this," Finn muttered as he readied himself for another go.

"No dude, you're still too tired," Jake answered somewhat groggily himself, "we can take him together."

"No. I got this," he said defiantly, even as his foe's sword blazed into life again. "For Princess Bubblegum, I got this."

This time, Finn took to the charge, blitzing across the short distance that separated him from the villain he was slowly growing to despise. The very thought that anyone could hurt Bubblegum, much less he be the one to do it, spurred him to great anger. And using that anger as fuel, Finn vaulted himself with a great leap in a bid to break his foe's stance with brutal force. But like quicksilver, the Finn who wasn't Finn stepped to the side as the bloodiron blade came down to meet him; the sword screamed as it struck the flat of the burning weapon that served as its opposite, sharpened edge sliding against the hardened surface and sending sparks fleeing to the earth to disappear. Finn landed and tumbled away as his double swung a countering blow, hitting naught but air.

The duel proceeded apace much as it did before, with each Finn taking mighty swings at the other, and each Finn hitting only space or the other's deadly edge. Jake and Peppermint Butler watched with abject fascination as the fight trailed up and down the hill, neither side seeming to gain or lose an inch this frightful exchange of blows, this bar fight between universes. The two onlookers followed them on foot, keeping a safe distance as Finn and Finn fought to the baleful end.

It came sooner than expected; after a poorly aimed swing, Finn found his swing badly misdirected by a twitch of his dark twin's sword. As it struck the earth, the intruder struck up with the hilt of his blade, catching Finn by the chin and jarring him from his aggressive position. To break his root, the dark Finn pushed forward and struck his vulnerable counterpart with the forehead of the bear's skull, knocking him back and weakening his footing. To seize the opportunity, he crouched quickly and hitched the faltering Finn's ankles with his hilt and hand, pulling hard as he rapidly stood again. The end result was Finn falling violently to his back, knocking the air from his lungs and stunning him as his head struck the not quite soft earth underfoot. He was dazed, unable to act as he looked up at the blackguard above him, swinging his malevolent sword in a killing stroke. He aimed to slash Finn through the stomach and kill him, there was no second way about it.

The sound of earth splitting by way of sharpened steel was the only gratification Finn the Mortal received. He watched passively as his would-be victim was towed away by his armpits, still clutching his sword in one hand. So close… mere inches away from winning, Finn, the twisted and desirous Finn, felt nothing short of cheated. He breathed heavily and angrily as his quarry was snatched so casually from the abyss. He pulled his sword free and held it tight, and at first glance the only thing that seemed different was the volume of the flame that bathed the blackened steel. Neither Finn nor Jake saw this subtle change.

"Dag, man," Finn said wistfully as he was pulled to his feet, "that was close."

"Finn, lemme help! He's trying to chop you up!"

"Uhm…"

Finn was met with deep dissonance when he thought about that. His ego demanded satisfaction; if Jake helped him to beat his opposite, the victory would seem cheapened. But there was also the increasingly high chance that he wouldn't win if he kept fighting on his own. Twice now he'd been at death's door, and twice Jake had pulled his sorry butt from the threshold.

"Okay man," Finn finally acquiesced, swallowing the bitter ale that was pride, "together."

As they turned to face their attacker, though, they gasped in unison. As Finn the Mortal shuddered and whispered, clutching tight his fierce sword, the flame had not only grown in volume, but changed in color. It burned angrily in a bright shade of blue, and the air all around the armor-clad other was rippling in the violent heat. It was Peppermint Butler that saved them both, in his own way, when he breached his own silence.

"Run you idiots! He's performing a magical attack! "

Finn merely frowned and took his sword in hand again, ready for yet another chance for the head of the enemy of the state. And if not for Jake, he'd likely not have had the chance. Acting fast, the dog wrapped his arms around his friend and took him up overhead. Finn could do nothing but flail in frustration as Jake hauled him back to a nearby boulder.

"Jake! Let me go! We have to-!"

"Nope!", was Jake's response. Carrying Finn and a deep motivation not to explode, Jake stretched one leg over the boulder before his body followed suit. Keeping Finn bound in his rope-like embrace, Jake stretched his neck up to peer over the top of the huge rock, seeing the fierce blue flame swirl about and take on a form quite resembling of a dragon composed of fire.

"What's he doing, Jake?"

"Oh," he answered as his head came back down with a worried look on his face. "Kinda looks like Blue Dragon's Flame."

"What? I wanna see, let me go!"

"Uhh, yeah, no!"

Hoisting his human compadre onto his back, Jake stretched an extra set of legs from his expanding torso, and the dog made a hasty bee-line in the opposite direction of the enemy as he readied his assault. Just in time as it were, since the darkling Finn swung his firebrand about him, catching the green grass around him ablaze with each pass. With one last swipe, Finn pointed his sword to the boulder, and from it issued a roaring, snaking shock of fire. It burst free from the black great sword with a thunderous force, blasting away the fire that scorched the grass and causing Finn's tattered cloak to dance in the sudden gust of hot wind. The magical fire seared its way toward the boys' hiding place, and without so much as a courteous warning of impending doom, pierce the rocky mass to its core. What followed was nothing short of a fantastic explosion, shaking the ground and scattering debris for dozens of yards. Even the Finn who was not Finn, who knew full well what mighty forces he was conjuring, felt nothing short of awe as he watched the boulder, that great manifestation of earthen solidity, give way to fire in a huge cloud of dust and stone.

He waited then, watching as the smoke cleared. There seemed to be no retaliation, not even a single sound to suggest that there was a survivor of this powerful display of overkill. Finn glanced at his sword, seeing its surface glow red-hot and smoke tip to hilt as the metal slowly cooled off; so great was the power of the blue flame, it burned out his magic sword, at least for the time being. Looking back to where Finn and Jake had taken shelter, seeing now only a smoldering crater, the darker Finn retired from the field, turning back toward the tree house. Had he been of a different mind, he'd have taken the moment to reflect on what all that house meant to him. He'd sit in the dining room, look across the whole of the room in which he rested, ponder the value of things that had once been taken from him. But now, Finn could only think about how none of it, not one damn thing belonged to him. He walked back up the gentle slope to the house, pausing only when he found himself standing near Peppermint Butler. He tilted his head to stare at him, seeing a deep disbelief and fierce loathing in the candy man's eyes.

"… I think I hate you," Finn said with great venom, "I really do."

"You don't belong here. You're a monster."

"… Maybe I am."

Sweeping his blade around, Finn lashed out at Peppermint Butler with his foot, angrily cracking the toe of his boot against the tiny servitor's face. It knocked him back with such tremendous force, that P. Butler tumbled back rapidly, crashing into the side of the house with a great, terrible noise. He lay there, body cracked and unconscious, breathing shallow and quiet breaths as Finn sheathed his cooling great sword and approached the door. It opened to him with only the slightest effort, and beyond the threshold lay the numerous spoils of Finn and Jake's adventures. Gold and gems and everything else… it meant as much to this Finn as it did to the other. Or as little, rather. Just the same, Finn took a small satchel from the corner of the room and filled it with loot. He needed it for the time being, knowing his next move was going to be expensive. More important than the glittering gold, though, was the rest of the unsorted swag. His eyes scanned the shelfs that hung casually from the walls, until at last his gaze found something quite unique. Unique and unexploited.

Tying the bag of gold to his belt, Finn walked casually to the shelf in question, reaching up and pulling from it a dusty, unused gauntlet. Brushing the thin layer of dirt from it, he stared at its silver-etched surface and the sapphire imbedded in the back of the hand plate. Here in his hands, Finn held a cosmic gauntlet, filled to the brim with a power waiting to be released. And the cruel teacher that is experience had taught him the secret to unleashing that magical potential. Pulling the glove off his right hand, Finn slowly replaced it with the heavy, enchanted item. At first glance it was overly large, seeming far more suited to a man twice Finn's stature. But that was not to remain the case; it glowed blue, finger to forearm, with a faint light as the gauntlet reacted to being worn for the first time in who knows long, and the metal shuddered and shrank and fitted itself to its new owner's arm. The mystical thing could fit no more perfectly.

"Can't believe he wasn't using this… dumb as a brick…"

He clenched his fist, and the metal shuddered as he did so, a sense of satisfaction emerging at the sound of the rust crunching free of the interlocking plates. But the sensation passed, and a brief flicker of desire took its place. The pure quintessence of nostalgia poured through his heart, the warm want to climb the steps into the higher levels of the tree house, and sit in his favorite spots in every single room. The reminiscence too was not to last, as the singular reminder of his fate. None of this, not even a single splinter belonged to him. Finn turned to leave, stopping when he heard a faint whimper coming from some hidden place above… BMO, cloistered in some far corner, crying quietly to himself, hoping that the mysterious swordsman wouldn't find him. At that thought, Finn slipped back out the door, pulling it closed behind him.

He stepped softly toward the tied up, bipedal steeds the Banana Guards came here on; they were skittish in his presence, agitated by the huge display of violence. Being reasonably sure that two of the three beasts of burden would kick him meanly in the guts, Finn decided to approach the third, less frightened creature. He patted its neck and whispered reassuring words as he unhitched the reins and tugged it in the direction he needed to go. The direction he would go in search of his prey, Finn and Jake.


	8. Grudge Match

**Grudge Match**

* * *

Such strange things Princess Bubblegum had created. Finn pondered that as he rode across the plains into the bordering woodlands; how odd the creations of his inter-dimensional paramour. What was this beast of burden bounding effortlessly, albeit nervously, beneath his body? A jelly bean? It certainly had the traits of such a treat. But every time Finn thought about the what, his mind would stumble on the legs of the creature: long, womanly limbs, so subtle and smooth in their shape, terminating in red high heels. What could that even…?

But then Finn would glance again at the horizon, the world of Ooo stretching out before him as the sun sidled across the sky towards its evening stage. The majesty of it would distract him from the absurdity between his legs, even though the suggestive, supple legs reminded him of Bubblegum, made him imagine her lithe form splayed out before him… the reality he'd become familiar with in the last hour had made even that deeply visceral fantasy taste sour. And seeing the place in the world where the sun would set only made that taste all the worse in his throat. To that end, Finn spurred his mount ever faster. He needed to find them.

But the question arose much sooner than he'd expected: how so? Investigating the rubble of their row, Dark Finn had found little to no evidence of F and J's quiet escape. The tracks he found were… well, it was largely impossible to follow them. The footprints slipped into a trafficked area of the grasslands, and since Jake was possessed of the ability to change the size and number of his feet, it was a short matter of time before the trail was useless to him. Fortunately, the hunter had a witty plan, a change of pace to ensure his quarry wouldn't slip away to fight another day. Pulling on the reins of his steed, Finn glanced up and down the forest market place, searching for one vendor in particular, a merchant well known to trade in mystical wonders.

He spurred the creature forward a bit, turning his grimly hidden face back and forth. It was not the least bit strange to see a warrior so armed and armored in this open market; many a knight sought newer and more exotic equipment to supplement their armories back home. But even the most seasoned veterans of the clownish battlegrounds of Ooo couldn't force their eyes off the skull that topped the strangers head. But Finn had his business to attend to, thus ignoring the staring rabble of buyers and sellers did little to phase him. Finally, he pulled to a stop and dismounted, taking slow, subconsciously calculated steps to the vendor's table. And in low tones, he spoke...

"Choose Goose."

"That's my name," he began with a titter, turning around to greet his latest customer, "don't… eww…"

Choose Goose regarded the newcomer carefully, weaving his fingers together as his large, leering eyes scanned him head to toe. Finn clenched his fists a moment, feeling the eyes of everyone on him, but breathing out a sigh as he cooled his heels. No need to be anything besides calm; he was here for goods.

"Oh, uhm. S'cuse me, gruesome grue, what in Ooo can I do for you?"

"Wha…? Oh yeah. You rhyme."

"I do do cachoo," Choose Goose said with a nod and a wink, "now, what brings you here?"

"Choose Goose," Finn said solemnly, trying not to sound too much like 'himself', "do you still sell magic items? I'm in need of some particular goods…"

"I sell the best! Ranging from vests to rings, to things in chests!"

"That's… sure. Look, I'm trying to find someone important. You got anything that can help do that?"

"I do, good sir!"

Choose Goose turned and ducked behind his counter, and the sound of rummaging met Finn's ears. The odds and ends of Choose Goose's wares clanged and scraped against one another from within the unorganized confines of first one large wooden chest and then another. Leaning forward, Finn spied a mass of items of rudely different nature's thrown together in boxes and barrels, spiky morningstars contrasting wildly against supple and suggestively shaped bottles undoubtedly holding love potions. If he survived, Finn thought, he'd come back for one of those potions…

"Where are you, little thing…?", Choose Goose commented frustratedly, before gasping with a joyful mirth that seemed altogether unnecessary, "Finally found you, subtle ring!"

The avian merchant sprang up from the pile of goods and laid himself on the sales table, face up and head bobbing to and fro as he presented a small ring box to his customer. The black, velvety container was altogether unassuming, and for a moment Finn thought himself foolish for coming to this less than consistent gander. But, history dictates that no one else would have such goods as Choose Goose… Finn sighed, and reluctantly put a gloved finger to the lip of the tiny box, flipping it open. WIthin was a dull band of silver with a minuscule, but vivid arrow of gold etched on its surface. He hadn't any clue what this was or how it would help him. But the wily salesman knew what to say.

"This, grim friend, is a Ring of Discerned Location. Find anyone of any vocation!"

"How does it work, Choose Goose?"

"Simple, really. Put it on your favorite finger, or whatever, and think about who-slash-what you wish to find. It'll point the way, and do its best to save time."

"That's perfect," Finn said eagerly, "I'll take it!"

"Good choice! Now, can I interest you in something else?"

"No, just this…"

"You sure? I happen to have also-"

"No," Finn said sternly, glaring back at the zealous foul through his fierce mask. The rise in his voice caught the attention of an already curious knight, who put his idle hand to his sword. Glancing back, Finn sighed and returned his sights to Choose Goose, who had taken back the ring box in his startled state. "Okay. What else have you to show me?"

"You sure you're interested?"

"Yes," he answered in a cold voice, "so long as it's good."

Choose Goose closed the box with the desirable ring and set it on the table as he went under the counter, returning only a second later with a box of similar velveteen make, albeit in a greater size. He opened it casually, revealing a strange and obviously magical necklace. It was made from a simple but elegant silver chain, polished in contrast to the ring's tarnished metal, set with links fine enough to suggest this item had once belonged to a lady of some stature or another. Finn, though, couldn't take his eyes off the glowing stone that the chain held in place, a tear-drop shaped piece of crystal bigger than his thumb and aglow with a hypnotic rainbow of colors. The hues swam one after another, and before Finn could ask what he was looking at, he hummed quietly. Choose Goose chuckled and answered the question yet to be asked.

"This here, is very rare. A Pendant of Protection, against all elements, fire through air."

"… Say again?"

"A Pendant of Elemental Protection. Acid, lightning, fire, cold, all rendered moot, all deflected. Well, up to a certain point, of course…"

"That's…", Finn muttered under his breath, utterly without a second thought, "that's perfect. I'll take them both, the ring and the pendant."

"Excellent news! Now, in trade… 57k!"

Finn pulled from his belt the pouch of treasure he'd taken from the trove, dropping it on the table before his hands snatched up the ring and the necklace. Choose Goose seemed suspicious; the small bag could certainly not contain all the necessary 57000 pieces of gold required. Maybe there was equal worth in diamonds? … No. Upon inspection, there were gems, yes, but no where near the fair trade point.

"Hold on a minute son," Choose Goose barked out with a hint of anger, "pay up the rest, before you go! Hey! Hey!"

"You wouldn't understand Choose Goose. This is way bigger than money, so take what I have and go back to your biz."

"You don't get it, kid!"

Choose Goose, hissing angrily, lunged across the counter that separated him from his thieving patron, clutching tightly on Finn's gauntleted forearm, pulling hard to get back his rare goods. Looking back at the irate avian fool, the now coldly bitter human snapped his arm back in the direction Choose Goose had come from, throwing him viscously to ground and scattering the loose assortment that lay there. Finn resumed his egress, tucking the half-purchased items away as he sought to return to his steed and resume the search. He was headed off, though.

"Where do you think you're going?"

A great hulking man plated head to toe in shining steel now stood between Finn and his bipedal mount. The knight must have been taller than the young blackguard by at least a head and a half, and his broad shoulders further served to dwarf the roguish man from the mirror. Finn, though, was not daunted in the least.

"Step off big man," he said in his meanest voice, hoping a little intimidation would serve in place of violence for now. "No one needs to get hurt over this. I've got somethin' that needs to be taken care of!"

"If you won't give back your ill-gotten gains, young fool, then violence is the only recourse! Have at you!"

The knight, protected by his plate mail and spurred by his strong code of honor, drew his beastly longsword from its sheath, rearing his swinging arm back for a strong, cleaving blow. Finn's fist clenched inside his cosmic gauntlet, and his eyes narrowed the moment the attack began.

"Fool."

As the swinging blade arced down toward Finn's shoulder, he stepped forward into the knight's space, reaching up to the warrior's wrist and pushing strongly with his gloved hand. The blade, thusly, struck the earth on which they both stood, as Finn pressed his free hand directly to the center of the armored oaf's chest plate. The second the blackguard's palm fell true, a crackle and hiss filled the air. Lightning danced between Finn's fingers and poured through the casket of heavy steel armor, finding the flesh and blood of the man underneath to be far more eager to cook. The knight fell back with a gurgle trapped in his throat, crashing hard against the ground and drawing all too much attention from the assembled knights that populated the market place. One by one they growled and drew their weapons, eager to sate their thirst for battle. Finn eyed them one at a time, drawing his own sword as they slowly encircled him. His grip tightened, his blade came alive, and he sighed behind his grim visage. The day just wouldn't end any other way, would it?

* * *

_The Tree House_

"P. Buts? You alive?"

"He doesn't look good man…"

Peppermint Butler found his consciousness to be at a loss, at this very moment. He was wrapped in a delusion born of of the pain of being ruthlessly busted into a nearly fragmented version of his once perfectly round self, a dream of darkest night. He dreamt of himself adrift in the sea of outer space, lost in a strange state of sleep and wakefulness. He looked down on the strangeness of Ooo below, the broken sphere of blue and green. For the time that his eyes were closed as he slipped into orbit over the world, Peppermint Butler saw it as he remembered it; true, there was always that heinous wound in the planet's surface, a remnant of the selfish sentient beings of the past, but beyond that Ooo always looked somewhat delightful. It was a living world, after all. But there was something nagging him, a coldness he couldn't put to words. Peppermint Butler opened his eyes, and he saw it: a stretching, yawning crevice in the sky, pulsing as though fed by a grotesque heart born from some dire otherworld. He stared into that abyss, and for a brief second he believed he saw something deeply vile staring back. And then he opened his eyes.

"Peppermint Butler! You're alive!"

"He still doesn't look good man…"

"I'm… I'm fine," he said weakly, his breathing a difficult and painful labor, "where are Finn and Jake?"

"We can't find them," one guard answered.

"Or the other guy, the mean one," said the second.

The Banana Guards stood and looked around the tree house, staring across hills far and near in search of anything. The foolhardy exercise was abandoned when their superior groaned and leaned forward from the large root against which he'd been resting, and they turned their attention to him. Though they'd been fiercely attack themselves, they fared far better than him.

"P. Buts, just relax man. We'll get some help."

"Yeah," guard #2 said with a cheerfulness that betrayed his swollen face, "we'll call PB and get more guards!"

"More guards won't do anything, you idiots!"

He bit his lip and screwed his eyes shut as he spoke, his whole body shuddering in a series of nasty aches. Peppermint Butler probably shouldn't have been concerned with moving, given his condition, but he knew what he had to do. If Finn and Jake weren't here, that meant they were alive. If the other Finn wasn't here, that meant one of two things: he went back to the castle, or he went after Finn and Jake.

"Get me inside! I have to contact some people!"

It was an excruciating effort, with both guards having to commit their energy toward getting Peppermint Butler inside and up the step ladder. He whined and winced with every jarring of his ruined body, growling angrily as he felt his shattered and weary frame shift. At last, though, he found a peaceful rest on the sofa, rickety from rebuilding following a fairly recent acrobatic failure. It groaned under his minor weight, but did nothing else. Breathing was difficult at this time, but still the manservant mustered the voice needed.

"BMO! Where are you?"

From some dark corner, the computer answered the call, whimpering faintly in response to Peppermint Butler.

"BMO. It's okay, BMO, it's safe. It's just me, Peppermint Butler, and the Banana Guards."

"Peppermint Butler…?"

"Yes BMO. Please come out, I need your help," he said faintly, sighing as he rested quietly.

A creaking sound and the scampering of tiny limbs came from the same place that BMO's soft, chip tune voice carried, and after a brief time of waiting wherein the self-aware PC crawled and clambered through every variety of obstacle, the robot sauntered timidly into view from a hole in the wall. He stood silently, eyes scanning the room for the frightful black warrior that had caused so much trouble. His eyes found Peppermint Butler, and he approached hastily.

"P. B., what happened to you? You are all busted up!"

"I know BMO… come here, I need your help."

BMO jumped to the edge of sofa, and though his tiny hands clutched the frame he couldn't quite clear the gap nor pull himself up. Seeing his tiny flailing legs, guard #1 approached and silently pushed BMO up to the cushions with his foot. Wearing a proud face for a brief moment of self-congratulation, BMO soon resumed his look of concern as he looked P. Butler over once again.

"What I can I do to help though…? Finn and Jake are gone…"

"I know, BMO," Peppermint Butler said as he pulled BMO closer, "we have to find out where they are. We'll give them a call, okay?"

* * *

_Elsewhere_

They fell to the ground exhausted, one on top of the other, Jake's body sprawling across the ground like a puddle while Finn, body aching from numerous bruises and superficial cuts, climbed to his feet and stumbled a few steps to a lonely stump. He aimed to sit on it, but missed quite laughably and slipped to the grass after scraping his back on the hard wooden protrusion. He didn't mind the scratching sensation on his tough skin, or maybe one more wound just didn't matter right now. They both exhaled painful, heated breaths, drawing in hissing gasps of stale summertime air to replace the exhaust to expelled; it took hours to get here from the tree house, and still it didn't seem far enough away. At least for Jake it didn't, and even now, after only a moment's rest, he struggled to peel his deformed mass from the ground and resume his rout.

"Jake," Finn whispered through the lethargy and the sour taste, "just chill. He's not gonna' find us."

He didn't listen though. Instead, Jake still tried to muster the effort to clamber up and scamper away. After a few moments, the dog simple wilted and took to catching his dogged breath. Finn took that as a sign to sigh and hang his head, pulling his hat off and letting his sweat drenched hair hang free.

"Man," he said with an even lower voice, "I can't believe that happened. We ran away."

"Don't," Jake said through hard breaths, "don't think like that…"

"We ran away, Jake. We ran. Away. From our house!"

He took to shouting as he rose to his feet, though he was shaky as he stood. With fists clenched, Finn turned to a nearby twig and snapped it with his heel. He was possessed of a deep anger with himself, as no creature had ever run him off when push came to shove. He even earned Marceline's respect through a spirited brawl. Finn never ran from a fight. Except today. He wanted the snapped twig to be more meaningful. It wasn't, never could be, anything besides a broken stick, though. At that he sighed and sat down on the stump.

"We left our home…"

Finn found running his fingers through his hair to be much more soothing than breaking a bit of wood underfoot, and between that and biting his lip until it bled the boy hero finally worked out the burning self-hate that poisoned his wounds. Only then did he take a deep, relaxing breath, wherein the oppression of the hot air seemed not so thick, and the heat not so dreadful.

"You good now, bro?"

Jake, who'd shrunk down to a minute size, now stood in Finn's field of vision, greeting him as the troubled teenager opened his eyes for a fresh look at the grass under his feet. That's right… Finn still had Jake. This wasn't over yet. That jerk only won because the pair was running on zero sleep. That and he probably cheated. Bad guys cheat all the time.

"Yeah man, I'm good."

Finn reached down and rested his hand on the grass, palm up, until Jake climbed aboard so his bro could lift him up to his shoulder. So mounted, Jake sat to rest while Finn stood and pulled his hat back over his head, a reassured, albeit grim, smile on his lips.

"We'll go hang with Flame Princess for a while, then regroup."

"Sounds good man. Let's get go-."

A piercing ring filled the grove where the heroes stood, causing Finn to jump forward and Jake to fall to the ground with an unceremonious shout. When the ring issued forth again, Finn relaxed himself and took his backpack from his shoulders; it was just the phone. And… it was BMO calling? Finn answered the call hastily.

"BMO?! BMO, are you okay?"

_"Yes Finn, I am okay. But where are you?"_

"We're out in the forest somewhere… BMO, are you still at the tree house?"

_"Yes Finn. And Peppermint Butler is here. He looks all cracked up."_

"Is BMO okay?", Jake asked as he expanded to normal size.

"Yeah, he's good. BMO, put P. Buts on the phone."

_"I'm here Finn,"_ the candy man answered plainly, but faintly.

"Peppermint Butler, what happened?"

_"Just a flesh wound… Finn, where are you?"_

"I don't know…", Finn said as he looked around. Everything looked the same, and for the first time in a long while he came to realize he had no idea where he was; he turned to Jake and spoke quietly. "Dude, stretch up and look where we are real quick."

"Aight man."

_"Finn,"_ Peppermint Butler continued, though he paused to groan a little in his pain, _"you have to find help somewhere. I think the other you is hunting you. You can… you can go to Marceline. She'll be able to protect you, and you can bring her to the castle to help."_

Jake, having stretched his head high into the air to take a look around the countryside, returned to ground level and looked at Finn calmly. Finn took the moment to put the phone to his shirt and give Jake a questioning look.

"Oh, umm… looks like we're about an hour out of the Marauders' Mountains."

_"Finn?"_

"Peppermint Butler, we're closer to Flame Princess than Marceline's place. We're gonna' go there instead."

_"That's fine, but hurry! I'll call Marceline too and fill her in. Hurry."_

The line went dead, and in a moment's time the phone was back in the pack, the pack back on the back, and the Jake taken up in Finn's arms as he found new vigor and drive to reach the finish line before whatever awful thing could happen did happen.

* * *

_The Market_

He stood alone, surrounded by the moaning, defeated knights that tried to bar his way. Sheathing his black blade, Finn sighed once more, finding the thrilling exercise to be, honestly, anything besides thrilling. What a waste of time, what an expense of his efforts, and not even a single grain of sport gained. Stepping over one dropped interloper after another, Finn the Blackguard wove his way to his waiting mount, which seemed anything but afraid of him by now. Finn did always seem good with animals. Climbing back up into his saddle, Finn looked down at his would-be challengers, then at the shuddering form of Choose Goose, who not once thought that the thief would emerge victorious against such odds. To his credit, he didn't know who the man in black was.

"So, Choose Goose," Dark Finn shouted from the back of his strange mount, "all I have to do is put the ring on and think of who I want to find?"

The bewildered bird nodded silently, and Finn, also silently, pulled his hand free from his glove. His bare, pale hand met the air, and it felt so naked that he began fidgeting hastily with the ring box, nearly dropping it to the ground. It opened with a faint snap, and inside there it was: the Ring of Discerned Location. He slipped the tarnished band on his finger, and the glove was thereafter returned to its proper place. Finn raised his black-coated fist and closed his eyes, thinking with all his might about his quarry. He didn't know how, but he knew he could feel the ring's magic at work, the sensation of force tugging him gently in the direction of his alter ego. Opening his eyes again, Finn gasped as he beheld a great, golden arrow spinning about the back of his hand like the needle of a compass. After a moment of seeking, the arrow finally settled, pointing towards the mountains to the southeast. He looked up from the magic arrow and regarded their craggy peaks in the distance. If he rode hard and fast, it wouldn't take anymore than an hour…

* * *

_The Marauders' Mountains, Sunset_

Keep pushing. One leg after another, just keep pushing; safety was just beyond the ridge. That's what Finn kept telling himself as his muscles all screamed in unison, begging him second after second to stop the mad run over Ooo. The pain blistered from his toes to his fingers, spiking with every step and making him lose his footing on every other stone he stepped on. Jake faired little better, breathing tiredly as he trailed after Finn in the increasing shadow of the mountains while the sun slipped away behind them. When the boy stumbled once more, this time staying on his hands and knees and squeezing his aching fingers together, pulling clumps of dirt into his palms. Jake took to resting on his belly beside him.

"Dude… you okay?"

"I'm dead on my feet man… how much farther?"

"It's not far. I can totally stretch us there," Jake muttered as he looked up the stony hillside. "Just… just gimme a minute."

After some more heavy breathing, Jake made a valiant but lethargic attempt to bulk himself up and draw his limbs out. His body bulged this way and that, but ultimately gave way to shuddering before the pug collapsed on the ground for another round of tired, strained gasps. Finn decided then that he'd take the yoke. Biting back the thirst in his throat, Finn groaned and stood again, letting the dirt in his hands fall between his fingers. He felt the exhaustion slip out of his lungs with a deep breath, and despite the ache in his swollen feet Finn took another step forward.

"C'mon Jake. C'mon," he said as he took his dog-tired dog by the arm, tugging as he trudged uphill, "We just gotta…"

Finn froze in place, not caring even to breathe after feeling the strong pulse of adrenaline course through his body at the sight of him. It was like seeing the specter of death, lurking ever just in the corner of your eye, haunting you at every turn and plunging you into terror. There, at the top of the hill, stood his foe, his evil twin, the Dark Finn, patting one of Princess Bubblegum's candy creatures gently on the side, commending its hard work for getting him here. Finn couldn't find it in him to do anything but stare up at his grim competitor, and breathe a deep, tired, sad sigh.

"Guess we got no choice. What do we do Jake…?"

"Well," saidJake, pulling himself together so as not too resemble a puddle, grumbling and scratching his head, "he's got the high ground. We can… we can beat him, I think. We gotta' do it together though, and we can't let him do that magic attack."

"Alright, let's get this done," Finn whispered as his hands found and pulled free his great sword, "you better bring it!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," answered the blackguard as he drew his blade and charged down the rocky slope, bounding from stone to stone.

"Jake, pillow!"

As Finn lifted his sword to block the oncoming attack, he sprung from the ground. His blade caught Dark Finn's swing, and the blow forced him back with the force of the charge. On the craggy hillside this would seem suicidal, but for Jake hopping behind Finn and expanding into a soft, lumpy mass and cushioning Finn as he was knocked down the hill. Bouncing off Jake's body and tumbling to a kneeling position, Finn looked up the hill and growled, tightening his grip as his double continued his approach, bounding off a boulder with his sword high over his head. The boy took a step back, batting the flaming great sword with his own blade as came close to splitting his stomach on the down stroke. It sparked on the rocks it struck, and the pair backed off one another in order to glower at each other. Only the crackling of the fiery weapon penetrated the silence.

"So," Dark Finn hissed in a mocking tone, "feeling as jacked up as you look?"

"Yeah, but," balked the native hero of Ooo, "not as jacked up as you're gonna be. Now Jake!"

In a roguish display of ambush, Jake sprung up from the ground and levied a massive pair of fists toward his foe, aiming a mean, overlarge double deuce at Dark Finn's helmeted head. Offense became defense without much more warning than that; the blackguard leaned back hard to escape the attack, stumbling and falling as the huge fists struck the ground, sending swirling motes of dust into the air. Jake pressed on, bringing one fist to bear after another as the Finn in black rolled to the side, bringing up his sword in a quick swipe as Jake reached in with his hang to grab up the prone enemy. The slash cut Jake across his palm, and he cried in pain as the blade instantly seared his flesh and sent agony all the way up the dog's arm and into his tired brain.

"Jake! Grah!"

Finn sprinted sword over head, bringing it down on Dark Finn in vengeful wrath. The bloodiron blade of his father crashed hard against Dark Finn's own magic weapon, driving the young man in black to his knee as he tried to stand. Finn raised his fist angrily, wanting nothing less than to punch in that ugly skull and keep on punching until whatever face was hiding under there was cave in. His other self had a similar idea; clenching his gauntleted fist tight, the artifact hummed softly and radiated a faint blue glow from the sapphire that decorated the hand plate. The doppelgänger opened his hand again, and from his palm issued a pulse of light and brutal, immaterial force, catching Finn in the gut with all the concussive impact of a kick from an angry horse. The teenager flew back much as he would if that horse had kicked him, bouncing hard off a rock and rolling to his side with a guttural moan. His face was twisted in agony and disbelief, advertising quite effectively the abject nausea and sense of crushed organs that his guts telegraphed. Dark Finn stood smugly as he watched his poorer half writhe helplessly on the ground, swinging his sword onto his shoulder as its flames subsided.

"Do you get it yet? You're pathetic. That's why Bubblegum doesn't love you! Come on, who could?!"

"Hey, shut up!"

Jake, stirred up by the vicious comment and renewed in his vigor, blew himself up to an enormous size and stature, resembling very much an angry grizzly bear from head to toe, and surged toward the taunting teen from the other world. Swinging heavy, slamming slams back and forth, Jake pushed Finn's evil twin back missing each time but keeping in mind this Finn's tendency to block attacks with that stupid flaming sword. In fact, so worried was Jake about this nuance, and so eager was he to smash some face, that when he took two extra swings with his hulking arms, he stooped down and plucked two large rocks from the ground, effortlessly pulling them from the compacted soil and throwing them mercilessly at the head of his least favorite person in the world. Dodging the first one was easy enough, but even Finn the Mortal had his limits; having stepped into the range of the second stone after evading the first, Finn could do little else than steady his sword in front of the flying rock. It slammed into his sword with massive force, and his sword in turn, with the boulder close behind it, slammed into him. It knocked him to the earth with a loud, brutal smash, and for a few seconds Dark Finn lay still on the rocky ground as if dead, battered weapon at his side, still loosely in hand.

That was the first time since he came here that this Finn who wasn't Finn felt the burden of a real injury, a sensation that sobered him up in the space between seconds, simultaneously filling him with apprehension and calm. The paradoxical emotions carried with him as he stood again, his sword blazing into life once more, scorching the ground where the tip touched. He felt his pulse in his finger tips, and red clouded his vision briefly as he caught his breath and lifted his weapon for the next go, charging forward with silent zeal. Jake couldn't decided between attacking or defending himself, a decisive gap that Dark Finn exploited by sliding between Jake's knees. As the bewildered magic dog leaned forward to try to keep up, the knave rapidly stood and swung his sword in a wide arc, slicing his other self's friend across the back of both legs. Another pained cry echoed out from Jake's throat as he crumpled up and shrank to his starting size, rolling on the ground and clutching his wounded limbs. Finn, shocked and dismayed, watched this brutish sneak attack, climbing to his feet with a snarl.

"You! How could you?! That's Jake!"

"This is your Jake," answered the double with a sad voice, "not mine."

"That's…! Ugh! I hate you! You're poison!"

Finn took a heavy stone in one hand and lobbed it hard at his double's head, though he swatted it away with his heavy cosmic gauntlet without much more than a minor effort.

"You're terrible," Dark Finn scoffed, "terrible."

Finn didn't answer. His lips curled, his eyes narrowed, and he bellowed out his deep, dire fury as he ran forward with all his might that was left to him. His eyes shuddered as he violently charged his foe because he became possessed of a distinct tunnel vision, a fierce desire to cut his doppelgänger in half, and also because at this very moment, tears were welling up in them. Ten feet, five feet, two feet, swing… but nothing more than an ineffective attack, another in a long line. Batting the blade with his hilt as if this were a game, Dark Finn torqued his body so that he was at Finn's side; he raised his cosmic gauntlet and thrust it forward, jabbing Finn in the ribs with the fingers of the gauntlet as they crackled with electricity. The boy growled and hissed for a moment as every last nerve in his body burst into flames. He fell to the ground surrounded by the smell of ozone, and the fall never seemed so slow as that moment that Finn felt not only the feeling leave his body, but the hope as well. He struck the earth hard, but he didn't feel any pain from that, being numb head to toe from the shocking touch of the cosmic gauntlet. His eyes beheld Jake, curled over in his own pain, but moreover curled up in shock. And Finn couldn't help but cry silently, broken down at last by exhaustion and defeat. The sun finally sank into the horizon, casting the mountains in the dark of night.

Only the burning brand lit up the dark at that moment, that and Jake's eyes as they widened in silent horror as the victorious intruder raised his sword up for the killing blow, the final stroke of this brutal masterpiece. It never should have come to this, and even the darkling agreed, albeit for more selfish reasons. Finn had slipped into unconsciousness, the darkness in his dreams matching the encroaching night outside his battered form. Even in this state, Finn knew he was to die. He could tell because he dreamed it, saw his fate coming to its final end. He dreamt once more of the swirling orange and purple that he'd seen the night before, coalescing and illuminating his sleeping vision. Orange became gold, and shapelessness became shape, and the swirling color pool that separated Finn from the infinite beyond became clear as a summer day. He was greeted by the Cosmic Owl.

_"… I'm dead now, aren't I?"_, Finn asked peacefully, albeit with a mote of fear. The Owl didn't answer. It drifted there in the imperceptible void, staring him down with those gaping, light filled eyes. Finn sighed, perhaps resigning to his failed destiny, but still gripped with the need to know he looked up into those intimidating orbs and asked again. _"I'm dead, right?"_

_"… No."_

_"Well, thanks for saying something, but," Finn said with another sad sigh, "soon now, right?"_

_"… No, Finn."_

_"Wha…? Then why are you here?"_

_"Because it's not over yet. I don't always have bad news Finn. Sometimes I come to tell people it's not over yet. Don't give up. She'll help you."_

He opened his eyes again, wondering what that meant. His vision took in the sight of the ground, of Jake again, of the night gently broken up by the light of his murderous doppelganger's sword held high overhead. After the sight of the world came the sound of it. And it sounded like a familiar voice from atop the hill.

"Finn? Jake?"

"Flame Princess!", Jake said as loudly as could be done as he looked up the hill, "save Finn!"

Finn did his best to turn his head and look up, but finding his body still shocked into submission couldn't much afford it. But he heard from behind him a scuffling sound, as if someone were backing up in abject terror. Truth be told, that's exactly what was happening. She was here too? How could that be? What horrible circumstances demanded that? Dark Finn stared up the hill at her, the demon that haunted half his dreams and filled him back and forth with crippling fear and swelling rage. Through his mask he perceived her lithe, perhaps even lovely features, took in her fierce eyes as she glanced at the Finn he had so nearly destroyed and then at him. He let his sword touch the ground as he backed away from her, her body dancing with living, searing heat as the fountain of anger rose up in her. And he was sure his terrified breathing was audible to everyone.

"Finn! Finn, get up now!", the raging elemental noble screamed as she viciously tore down the hillside, cutting a line of fire across the ground until she loomed over her lover. Dark Finn could never have guessed this fact, even as she stared down at him with quaking lips. She turned her gaze back to the man in black, and a hateful shade of red flooded her vision. "Who are you?! What did you do?!"

She lashed out at Dark Finn as he stood dumbly, a scrambling, chaotic gout of fire blasting from her fingers and blazing so fiercely that he reflexively raised his arms to cover his face. A pointless effort though. With a dull hum, the fires parted two feet out from Dark Finn's body, dissipating in the air around him and leaving naught but heat shimmers in the darkling air. Opening his eyes again, the intruder glanced around, noticed he was still alive, noticed Flame Princess looking curious but frustrated, and noticed he was smiling. Choose Goose had good loot, no doubt about that.

"Elemental Protection… that's putting it lightly," he said with satisfaction as he found courage once more. Being unafraid of fire was much easier when fire was shrugged off like the wind.

"Magic," Flame Princess muttered, "magic like that won't stop me from making you pay! I am the Princess of the Fire Kingdom! Now burn!"

She leapt forward like a horrible tiger, and where she crashed to the ground she sent a wave of flame toward her target. The blaze was clearly more fierce than the last effort she made, a forceful blast of white hot fire that crashed mercilessly against Dark Finn's abjuring field of anti-fire. Expecting the flames to part once more, he didn't bother to lean into the wave, and he found that even with the magical protection, he couldn't keep his balance. The bubble of protection flexed with the fiery strike, and he fell backward with the force, crashing to the ground as if toppled by the ocean, smashing his head sharply on a rock there. Cracks coursed up across the bear skull, and for a moment Dark Finn's world was his aching head. He rose again though, this time wiser and not wanting to let the same thing happen twice.

"Protection to an extent. Got it."

"Stop _muttering_ to yourself!"

Fire surged from her body as she screamed out her fury, increasing her body's size to twice what it was. The heat was formidable, even for her foe, who stood some ten feet off from her. Jake, having regained some vigor, could be seen carrying Finn on his back away from this awesome display, unsure if Flame Princess would win, but certainly not wanting to be cut in the fire fight. Flame Princess wailed again and set her eyes on her prey.

"You hurt Finn! My boyfriend! I'll turn you to dust!"

"What?!", Dark Finn gasped. That ideas was repulsive in the extreme, froze him to his core. But worse than that was what that searing spear looked like as it flew toward his heart. Not sure was a mild way to answer his question of how much more his shield could suffer, so he dove aside and let that gout of fire strike empty ground instead. Staggering up again, he found he had no choice but dive away again, and Flame Princess was all too eager to voice her frustration at that idea.

"Stay still maggot! Die like you deserve!"

Surging forward to catch him by surprise, Flame Princess conjured another wave of flames, these as fierce and determined to incinerate him as the last, though with a much wider spread. Dark Finn did his damnedest to clear this fence of pain, trying to jump it without leaving himself vulnerable to more ruination. It wasn't in the cards. The flames caught the very perimeter of the force field that protected him, and the momentum of the attack launched him to the ground with the fires. He bounced against the rugged rocks, pained by their rough jabs even through his hardened armor. The flames licked his boots and gloves as they burned up what little grass grew between the rocks. It took considerable effort and courage to do so, but Finn gritted his teeth and pushed himself to standing. His sword was getting so heavy in his hands… his eyes looked up to see the raging inferno he had unintentionally brought down on himself. Maybe he would have been better off remaining the pet of _his _Flame Princess...

"Good boy," she said viciously, "now stay!"

She clapped her hands together, and from them came a blast of thunder and a blazing arc of plasma, burning hotter than any flame she had yet committed to Dark Finn's demise. It seared the ground as it crossed the gap to him, and it was now that he feared he was going to die, but refused to commit to that idea at all. He raised his sword in front of him, more an instinct than an actual idea, and he hoped beyond hope for the best. The arc of ionized air struck the bubble that guarded him, pressing it, warping it so incredibly that it seemed impossible it wouldn't burst. And it did; with a loud, indescribable noise reminiscent of breaking glass crossed with static, the elemental abjuration gave way and the plasma blast, weakened but still horribly powerful, surged around Dark Finn where he stood, consuming him wholly. The flames licked up across his sword and blasted his guarded face, and then came a second awful sound: his helmet cracked, crumbled, and exploded with a noisome pop. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, and for a moment that seemed the end of it.

Flame Princess watched his smoldering form, taking in the sight of his motionless body and his burning cloak. Jake and the slowly reviving Finn peered from beyond a large boulder that served as their shield from the formidable battle. It was Finn who spoke first.

"She did it. Jake… she did it."

"Dude…"

"Finn, is that you?", Flame Princess said softly as she turned about. Her blazing, oversized body began to recede, giving her a greater resemblance to her more primary self. She feared he had been smote when he didn't stir earlier, so it was good to see him up again.

"Jake, she did it. She really did it."

"That was crazy man. … Wait a minute."

Did he see something? It was imperceptible; a finger twitch, an easy mistake to make in the dark of night with all the raging flames casting shadows this way and that. But then the blackguard's sword started to come to life again, flecks of metal in the blade's body glowing as they sparked up.

"Oh my Grod… Flame Princess," Jake barked loudly, "he's not down!"

She turned around with her lips twisted into a cruel and vexed frown. It was a fact, the man in black was getting back up, looking sore and scorched, and rather fierce as the fire ate away the remnants of his once smokey cloak. Reaching back and gripping the burning fabric, Dark Finn jerked it away and cast it to the ground, swatting the embers that attacked his exposed neck thereafter. He turned around, now infernally fiery sword in hand, with a frightfully angry look on his face. That face… the sight of it made Flame Princess wither. Her visage flashed into a face painted with befuddlement, if not outright disbelief.

"What? Finn?"

She looked at him quite plainly despite her shock, then back at the Finn behind the boulder, then back at this Finn in black. It was definitely disbelief now; she turned and shouted at Finn and Jake.

"What's going on here?!"

"Don't turn your back on me…"

Dark Finn planted his sword in the hard earth and wheeled about. His cosmic gauntlet glowed with power, and with a strong thrust with his open palm, he sent a flurry of glowing orbs Flame Princess's way. Five such globes of blue light were created, and they streaked toward her with speed and abandon such that they seemed more like tiny, merciless comets than faintly glowing orbs. They struck like comets as well. Each ball of light, a silent little thing in itself, smashed into her body with the force of a war hammer, battering Flame Princess to the ground as they burst into flecks of luminescence with an echoing crackle. She gasped in pain as a result, but not before growling and increasing her size with her anger once more.

"Be careful Flame Princess," Finn shouted best he could, "hit him hard, hit him fast. Don't let him drag it out!"

Whether or not she heeded his advice, Flame Princess growled and took to the offense, flicking her hands Dark Finn's way and sending to him a blazing salvo to compliment his gift of magic missiles. Immediately, as though he were unhurt after their whole first bout, he took to running across the rough ground, pulling his blazing sword up with him and holding it against the clusters of fire that sought to erase his flesh. The broad blade did well in this endeavor, though his legs took nasty burns as collateral. He seemed not to care as he spun, planted his sword again, and thrusted his gauntleted palm forward again. Another cluster of magical missiles erupted from his hand, and the princess was far from eager to let herself be battered by them again. But as she fled the glowing orbs, she was shocked to find them giving chase, cutting through the air with their tiny, wispy tails following closely behind. Staggered by this discovery, Flame Princess was brutally assaulted by these tiny but effective objects of pure force. She fell to her hands and knees, hissing and bemoaning her pain. She raised her head in time to see more of those offensive little dots threatening to harm her, and reacted.

"No more of this!"

She threw her arms up before the closing projectiles, and the flames swirled around the softly glowing missiles, devouring them whole and leaving not but faint wisps of light. Another set of magic missiles took their place, and met the same fate, then a third set after that. Defense seemed the best way to handle magical attacks, but Finn wasn't fooled. All he could do was whimper, even though he wanted more than anything to shout.

"Flame Princess," he said weakly, "go offense. Don't let him…"

Dark Finn smirked now; she was pinned, caught now choosing either to block his magic or go all in on a counter offense. But he wasn't willing to wait this out, and he had one last trick up his gauntlet. With any luck, it would have just enough power left to pull it off. Pulling his sword loose with both hands, he broke into running, closing the gap between him and Flame Princess. She observed this.

"Grah! Stay away from me!"

She slashed her arms down, sending a splashing ball of fire to the earth in front of him and setting it ablaze. He leapt over the flames as if grace were so easy, continuing his mad run. She decided then that she'd beat him at his own game; mustering up ever more fire and roaring like a beast, she charged toward him, aiming to simply run him over and set him alight with her burning foot prints. But this was what he wanted. Stomping his foot into a stable stone, Finn lifted his blade over his head and threw it hard as he could. It landed ten feet in front of him, blade buried securely in the ground and angled toward him ever so slightly. He continued his run, gritting his teeth; there was only one shot to make this work. She was closing hard on him as he closed his fist and the gauntlet's exhausted sapphire gave up one last pulse of blue light. As he reached the sword, Flame Princess was nearly upon him, and at this time that he should be most afraid he smiled with grim bravery. Finn jumped up, planting his foot on the cross guard of his anchored sword. Using this as an extra platform, he bounded out from the way of his fiery foe's charge.

"Flame Princess, look out!"

As Finn and Jake shouted this in unison from their hiding place, she wheeled about in search of her elusive quarry. She saw him as he floated in the air behind her, looking as though he were mid-flight after jumping off from his sword's cross guard. She saw him drifting as he held that hateful cosmic gauntlet steady, its metallic surface alive with magic, crackling with turbulent energy as its strained power source gave up what remained of its supply. And with a heavy sound, like the firing of a cannon, the magic was loosed; a great, speeding, egg-shaped orb the size of a watermelon exploded from the gauntlet, knocking Dark Finn back through the air and blasting through Flame Princess's body with a terrible, thunderous noise. That didn't compare in the least to her agonizing scream as her form shuddered a burst into spouts of fire, letting her wither and fall to the ground with a guttural hiss. Dark Finn landed hard on his back, curling up to protect his head somehow now that his helmet was gone. The night grew still and silent until the blackguard rose again, battered, bruised, burned, but a young man possessed by a relentless urge to survive. He shuffled slowly to his great sword, gripped it tightly, and pulled it free of the earth. He regarded Flame Princess then, head hanging as he eyed her.

"Flame Princess… Flame Princess!"

Dark Finn's head lifted as he heard his counterpart stumbling across the rubble field. Tired and angry, the blackguard clutched his blade and started strolling to meet his opposite. The end of this seemed at hand, until their came the sound of rush of air from behind Dark Finn. He began to turn to look back , but instead found himself knocked to the ground by a rough push.

"Come on you dorks! We're getting out of here!"

That voice… he was sure beyond a doubt he knew that voice, and sure he was doomed not to hear it again after the heartbreaking affair they lived through. Face down on the ground for what couldn't have been but a blink of an eye, Finn pushed himself up and looked to where he had seen his other self. Nothing was there now. Jake wasn't lurking behind the boulder either. And upon looking back to where she should be, Finn found that Flame Princess too was missing. Dark Finn was alone here now; he climbed to his feet and looked up to the dark sky, dotted by the silver of the stars.

"… Marceline."

* * *

The wind howled around his ears as he watched the earth pass fast below, and the sensation served to wake him from his continued stupor. In Finn's hands he held a shrunken, exhausted, banged up Jake, and in turn Finn was held aloft by Marceline, tucked gently under one of her arms. He noticed something odd about Marceline… her outfit was odd, bulky, uncomfortable, not at all like her, really. It seemed she was wearing, at least in part, a fire suit, which made perfectly good sense given that she was holding Flame Princess in her other arm. Finn looked up at Marceline's face, and seeing her determined frown made him smile for some reason. Maybe he was just that tired; the flow of her black hair, fluidly fluttering in the wind, was exceptionally hypnotic to that end.

"Marceline…"

"What the heck was that Finn?"

"He was," he began wistfully, "he's like my evil twin."

"Yeah, no, I got that. But what the heck was that? You guys sucked out there."

"We did our best Marceline…"

"We'll talk about that later. … Hold on a minute."

Marceline slowed her flight, drifting down to the earth and depositing Finn on his feet for just a moment as she turned and looked back in the direction she came from. Her eyes narrowed and she lifted a finger casually, limply pointing it in the direction that she felt she had to. She hissed then, and flicked her finger with a quick jerk of her wrist.

* * *

The golden arrow spun about as it did before, slowing down as it bounced back and forth in the general direction that Marceline had stolen away his enemies. But just as it was to point out where to find them, the arrow violently jerked about and spun madly, speeding faster and faster until it disintegrated into a cloud of green and yellow grains. His eye brows jumped at first, curiosity piquing much more quickly than vexation. Dark Finn looked up at the night sky again; Marceline was wily, possessed of a magic all her own. What's more, he likely wouldn't have it in him to really bring the fight to her plus the other three tonight. He was tired, and a part of him missed Bubblegum. Oh Bubblegum… he forgot all about her! She'd wonder where he was! Finn pulled his glove off and put his fingers to his lips. He whistled shrilly, its piercing noise echoing through the mountains. After a minute or so, his candy steed climbed from over the hill, looking quite shaken by the noise of the battle. Finn hiked to it, patting its neck and whispering kind words to it, reassuring the poor, frightened thing before walking it to a clearer spot. He hoped to ride hard and fast, and get back to his adopted home before the night escaped.

* * *

_Somewhere dark_

A rabble had come together. Gnashing, snarling, biting, hacking, evil… it assembled there, each ghoulish, gruesome member of this assemblage drawn by two things: the warmth of life, and the push of darkness. They cluttered near the source of the light, the huge, rectangular patch of glowing elsewhere that had been discovered at the end of the trail of the last living thing in Ooo. They scratched at surface, finding it to be glass, and yet at the same time as hard and unyielding as adamant. As each new undead member was added to the pack of starving, hateful brutes, they pounded on the portal, but it wouldn't give, it would never give to them, as only a powerful individual could manage that feat. The sudden silence and the parting of pack of ghouls marked the arrival of such a being. He towered over his hoard, numerous limbs cracking and popping as he lurched too and fro in his approach. Once he reached the center of the mass of his minions, he stared into the blinding light; like his ghouls, he knew the light of the living when he saw it.

Turning his massive head to leer at one of the larger fiends, the Lich hissed out in his cold, necromantic voice.

_"You're certain?"_

It didn't answer, per se, but the Lich smiled just the same, or rather did whatever passes for smiling with those gruesome, exposed teeth, grey and winnowed from the dust of ages. He turned again and regarded the door into the fresh world, the second Land of Ooo, just waiting for his conquest. What fun, he thought, it would be to kill everyone Finn held dear again. What fun. And with a hiss and a whisper, the Lich pressed his long, bony, malformed hands against the glass of the Smoking Mirror.


End file.
